Method and apparatus for determining size of preemption indication in a wireless communication system

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus are disclosed. In an example, a User Equipment (UE) is configured with a size associated with downlink control information (DCI) corresponding to one or more preemption indications. In some examples, the size is equal to a first value that is not a multiple of a defined value. Alternatively and/or additionally, the UE is configured with a starting position of a field associated with the DCI. The starting position is equal to a second value that is a multiple of the defined value. Alternatively and/or additionally, a first DCI comprising a first preemption indication is transmitted to the UE based upon the size and/or the starting position.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present Application claims priority to and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/367,995, filed on Mar. 28, 2019, entitled“METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING SIZE OF PREEMPTION INDICATION IN AWIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM”, the entire disclosure of which isincorporated herein in its entirety by reference. U.S. application Ser.No. 16/367,995 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional patent applicationSer. No. 62/650,660 filed on Mar. 30, 2018, the entire disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, and alsoclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.62/651,493 filed on Apr. 2, 2018, the entire disclosure of which isincorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to wireless communication networks,and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for determining a sizeof a preemption indication in a wireless communication system.

BACKGROUND

With the rapid rise in demand for communication of large amounts of datato and from mobile communication devices, traditional mobile voicecommunication networks are evolving into networks that communicate withInternet Protocol (IP) data packets. Such IP data packet communicationcan provide users of mobile communication devices with voice over IP,multimedia, multicast and on-demand communication services.

An exemplary network structure is an Evolved Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess Network (E-UTRAN). The E-UTRAN system can provide high datathroughput in order to realize the above-noted voice over IP andmultimedia services. A new radio technology for the next generation(e.g., 5G) is currently being discussed by the 3GPP standardsorganization. Accordingly, changes to the current body of 3GPP standardare currently being submitted and considered to evolve and finalize the3GPP standard.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the present disclosure, one or more devices and/ormethods are provided. In an example, a User Equipment (UE) is configuredwith a size associated with downlink control information (DCI)corresponding to one or more preemption indications. In some examples,the size is equal to a first value that is not a multiple of a definedvalue. Alternatively and/or additionally, the UE is configured with astarting position of a field associated with the DCI. The startingposition is equal to a second value that is a multiple of the definedvalue. Alternatively and/or additionally, a first DCI comprising a firstpreemption indication is transmitted to the UE based upon the sizeand/or the starting position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a wireless communication system according toone exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a transmitter system (also known as accessnetwork) and a receiver system (also known as user equipment or UE)according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a communication system accordingto one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the program code of FIG. 3according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates a table associated with Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM) numerologies.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of an uplink-downlink timing relationship.

FIG. 7A illustrates a table associated with a number of OFDM symbols perslot, a number of slots per frame and/or a number of slots per subframefor a normal cyclic prefix (CP).

FIG. 7B illustrates a table associated with a number of OFDM symbols perslot, a number of slots per frame and/or a number of slots per subframefor an extended CP

FIG. 8 illustrates a table associated with slot formats in a normal CP.

FIG. 9 illustrates a table associated with a starting position for anexemplary Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) preamble.

FIG. 10 illustrates a table associated with a starting position for anexemplary PRACH preamble.

FIG. 11 illustrates a table associated with Control Channel Element(CCE) aggregation levels and/or a number of Physical Downlink ControlChannel (PDCCH) candidates per CCE aggregation level.

FIG. 12 illustrates a table associated with a maximum number of PDCCHcandidates per slot and/or per serving cell.

FIG. 13 illustrates a table associated with a maximum number ofnon-overlapped CCEs per slot and/or per serving cell.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary DownlinkPreemption information element.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart according to one exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The exemplary wireless communication systems and devices described belowemploy a wireless communication system, supporting a broadcast service.Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide varioustypes of communication such as voice, data, and so on. These systems maybe based on code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multipleaccess (TDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA),3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) LTE (Long Term Evolution)wireless access, 3GPP LTE-A or LTE-Advanced (Long Term EvolutionAdvanced), 3GPP2 UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), WiMax, or some othermodulation techniques.

In particular, the exemplary wireless communication systems devicesdescribed below may be designed to support one or more standards such asthe standard offered by a consortium named “3rd Generation PartnershipProject” referred to herein as 3GPP, including: R1-1803554, 3GPP TS38.213 V15.0.1, “NR Physical layer procedures for control”, Samsung;R1-1803553, “CR to 38.212 capturing the January 18 ad-hoc and RAN1#92meeting agreements”, Huawei; RP-180479, “Corrections for EN-DC”,Ericsson. The standards and documents listed above are hereby expresslyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIG. 1 presents a multiple access wireless communication system inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. An accessnetwork 100 (AN) includes multiple antenna groups, one including 104 and106, another including 108 and 110, and an additional including 112 and114. In FIG. 1, only two antennas are shown for each antenna group,however, more or fewer antennas may be utilized for each antenna group.Access terminal 116 (AT) is in communication with antennas 112 and 114,where antennas 112 and 114 transmit information to access terminal 116over forward link 120 and receive information from access terminal 116over reverse link 118. AT 122 is in communication with antennas 106 and108, where antennas 106 and 108 transmit information to AT 122 overforward link 126 and receive information from AT 122 over reverse link124. In a frequency-division duplexing (FDD) system, communication links118, 120, 124 and 126 may use different frequencies for communication.For example, forward link 120 may use a different frequency than thatused by reverse link 118.

Each group of antennas and/or the area in which they are designed tocommunicate is often referred to as a sector of the access network. Inthe embodiment, antenna groups each may be designed to communicate toaccess terminals in a sector of the areas covered by access network 100.

In communication over forward links 120 and 126, the transmittingantennas of access network 100 may utilize beamforming in order toimprove the signal-to-noise ratio of forward links for the differentaccess terminals 116 and 122. Also, an access network using beamformingto transmit to access terminals scattered randomly through its coveragemay normally cause less interference to access terminals in neighboringcells than an access network transmitting through a single antenna toall its access terminals.

An access network (AN) may be a fixed station or base station used forcommunicating with the terminals and may also be referred to as anaccess point, a Node B, a base station, an enhanced base station, aneNodeB, or some other terminology. An access terminal (AT) may also becalled user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, terminal,access terminal or some other terminology.

FIG. 2 presents an embodiment of a transmitter system 210 (also known asthe access network) and a receiver system 250 (also known as accessterminal (AT) or user equipment (UE)) in a multiple-input andmultiple-output (MIMO) system 200. At the transmitter system 210,traffic data for a number of data streams may be provided from a datasource 212 to a transmit (TX) data processor 214.

In one embodiment, each data stream is transmitted over a respectivetransmit antenna. TX data processor 214 formats, codes, and interleavesthe traffic data for each data stream based on a particular codingscheme selected for that data stream to provide coded data.

The coded data for each data stream may be multiplexed with pilot datausing OFDM techniques. The pilot data may typically be a known datapattern that is processed in a known manner and may be used at thereceiver system to estimate the channel response. The multiplexed pilotand coded data for each data stream may then be modulated (i.e., symbolmapped) based on a particular modulation scheme (e.g., binary phaseshift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-ary phaseshift keying (M-PSK), or M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM))selected for that data stream to provide modulation symbols. The datarate, coding, and/or modulation for each data stream may be determinedby instructions performed by processor 230.

The modulation symbols for all data streams are then provided to a TXMIMO processor 220, which may further process the modulation symbols(e.g., for OFDM). TX MIMO processor 220 then provides N_(T) modulationsymbol streams to N_(T) transmitters (TMTR) 222 a through 222 t. Incertain embodiments, TX MIMO processor 220 may apply beamforming weightsto the symbols of the data streams and to the antenna from which thesymbol is being transmitted.

Each transmitter 222 receives and processes a respective symbol streamto provide one or more analog signals, and further conditions (e.g.,amplifies, filters, and/or upconverts) the analog signals to provide amodulated signal suitable for transmission over the MIMO channel. N_(T)modulated signals from transmitters 222 a through 222 t may then betransmitted from N_(T) antennas 224 a through 224 t, respectively.

At receiver system 250, the transmitted modulated signals are receivedby N_(R) antennas 252 a through 252 r and the received signal from eachantenna 252 may be provided to a respective receiver (RCVR) 254 athrough 254 r. Each receiver 254 may condition (e.g., filters,amplifies, and downconverts) a respective received signal, digitize theconditioned signal to provide samples, and/or further processe thesamples to provide a corresponding “received” symbol stream.

An RX data processor 260 then receives and/or processes the N_(R)received symbol streams from N_(R) receivers 254 based on a particularreceiver processing technique to provide N_(T) “detected” symbolstreams. The RX data processor 260 may then demodulate, deinterleave,and/or decode each detected symbol stream to recover the traffic datafor the data stream. The processing by RX data processor 260 may becomplementary to that performed by TX MIMO processor 220 and TX dataprocessor 214 at transmitter system 210.

A processor 270 may periodically determine which pre-coding matrix touse (discussed below). Processor 270 formulates a reverse link messagecomprising a matrix index portion and a rank value portion.

The reverse link message may comprise various types of informationregarding the communication link and/or the received data stream. Thereverse link message may then be processed by a TX data processor 238,which may also receive traffic data for a number of data streams from adata source 236, modulated by a modulator 280, conditioned bytransmitters 254 a through 254 r, and/or transmitted back to transmittersystem 210.

At transmitter system 210, the modulated signals from receiver system250 are received by antennas 224, conditioned by receivers 222,demodulated by a demodulator 240, and processed by a RX data processor242 to extract the reserve link message transmitted by the receiversystem 250. Processor 230 may then determine which pre-coding matrix touse for determining the beamforming weights and may then process theextracted message.

FIG. 3 presents an alternative simplified functional block diagram of acommunication device according to one embodiment of the disclosedsubject matter. As shown in FIG. 3, the communication device 300 in awireless communication system can be utilized for realizing the UEs (orATs) 116 and 122 in FIG. 1 or the base station (or AN) 100 in FIG. 1,and the wireless communications system is preferably the LTE system. Thecommunication device 300 may include an input device 302, an outputdevice 304, a control circuit 306, a central processing unit (CPU) 308,a memory 310, a program code 312, and a transceiver 314. The controlcircuit 306 executes the program code 312 in the memory 310 through theCPU 308, thereby controlling an operation of the communications device300. The communications device 300 can receive signals input by a userthrough the input device 302, such as a keyboard or keypad, and canoutput images and sounds through the output device 304, such as amonitor or speakers. The transceiver 314 is used to receive and transmitwireless signals, delivering received signals to the control circuit306, and outputting signals generated by the control circuit 306wirelessly. The communication device 300 in a wireless communicationsystem can also be utilized for realizing the AN 100 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a simplified block diagram of the program code 312 shown inFIG. 3 in accordance with one embodiment of the disclosed subjectmatter. In this embodiment, the program code 312 includes an applicationlayer 400, a Layer 3 portion 402, and a Layer 2 portion 404, and iscoupled to a Layer 1 portion 406. The Layer 3 portion 402 may performradio resource control. The Layer 2 portion 404 may perform linkcontrol. The Layer 1 portion 406 may perform and/or implement physicalconnections.

One or more frame structures associated with Radio Access Technology(RAT) and/or New RAT (NR) (associated with 5G) may accommodate variousrequirements associated with time resources and/or frequency resources(e.g., ultra-low latency (e.g., ˜0.5 ms)) to delay-tolerant traffic forMachine Type Communication (MTC), from a high peak rate for enhancedMobile Broadband (eMBB) to a very low data rate for MTC. Low latency(e.g., short Transmission Time Interval (TTI)) and/or mixing/adaptingdifferent TTIs may be important for various applications. In addition todiverse services and requirements, forward compatibility is an importantconsideration in an initial NR frame structure design as not allfeatures of NR would be included in the beginning phase/release of NR.

Reducing protocol latency may be an important improvement betweendifferent generations/releases, which can improve efficiency as well asmeeting new application requirements (e.g., real-time service). Aneffective method adopted to reduce latency is to reduce a length of TTIsfrom 10 milliseconds (ms) in 3G to 1 ms in LTE.

Backward compatibility may not be required in an NR system. Numerologymay be adjusted such that reducing a symbol number of a TTI is not theonly way to change TTI length. In an example associated with LTEnumerology, 14 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbolsmay be associated with 1 ms and/or a subcarrier spacing of 15 KHz. Whenthe subcarrier spacing increases to 30 KHz, where a Fast FourierTransform (FFT) size and/or a cyclic prefix (CP) structure may notchange, there may be 28 OFDM symbols in 1 ms and/or the TTI may become0.5 ms if the number of OFDM symbol in a TTI is kept the same.Accordingly, a design between different TTI lengths may be kept common,with scalability performed on the subcarrier spacing. One or more of FFTsize, Physical Resource Block (PRB) definition/number, CP design,supportable system bandwidth, subcarrier spacing selection, etc. may beconfigured in association with subcarrier spacing selection. As NR isassociated with a larger system bandwidth and/or a larger coherencebandwidth, inclusion of a larger subcarrier spacing may be beneficial.

Because it may be difficult to fulfill various diverse requirementsusing a single numerology, more than one numerology may be adopted. Inconsideration of standardization efforts, implementation efforts and/ormultiplexing capabilities associated with various numerologies it may bebeneficial to have a relationship between different numerologies, suchas an integral multiple relationship. Various numerology families, suchas LTE 15 kHz and/or other numerologies may allow power N of 2 symbolsin 1 ms.

In NR, it may be necessary to support more than one value ofsubcarrier-spacing. Values of subcarrier-spacing may be derived from avalue of subcarrier-spacing multiplied by N (e.g., N may be an integer).In a first numerology, subcarrier-spacing values may include 15 kHzsubcarrier-spacing (e.g., LTE based numerology). In a second numerology,subcarrier spacing values may include 17.5 kHz subcarrier-spacing withuniform symbol duration including CP length. In a third numerology,subcarrier spacing values may include 17.06 kHz subcarrier-spacing withuniform symbol duration including CP length. In a fourth numerology,subcarrier spacing values may include 21.33 kHz subcarrier-spacing. Insome examples, other numerologies are also provided. Alternativelyand/or additionally, multiple OFDM numerologies may be assumed to applyto a single frequency range.

NR frame structure, channels and/or numerology design are describedbelow. In some examples, sizes of various fields in the time domain maybe expressed in time units (e.g., T_(c)=1/(Δƒ_(max)·N_(f)), whereΔƒf_(max)=480·10³ Hz and N_(f)=4096). Alternatively and/or additionally,for a constant κ=T_(s)/T_(c)=64, where T_(s)=1/(Δƒ_(ref)·N_(f,ref)),Δƒ_(ref)=15·10³ Hz and/or N_(f,ref)2048 may be true.

FIG. 5 illustrates a table 500 associated with OFDM numerologies. Insome examples, μ may be indicative of a numerology and/or Δƒ may beindicative of a subcarrier spacing. For example, a first numerology(e.g., μ=0) may be associated with a first subcarrier spacing (e.g.,Δƒ=15 kHz). Alternatively and/or additionally, a second numerology(e.g., μ=1) may be associated with a second subcarrier spacing (e.g.,Δƒ=30 kHz). Alternatively and/or additionally, a third numerology (e.g.,μ=2) may be associated with a third subcarrier spacing (e.g., Δƒ=60kHz). For example, μ and/or a CP for a bandwidth part may be given byhigher-layer parameters DL-BWP-mu and DL-BWP-cp for downlink (DL)(transmissions), and/or UL-BWP-mu and UL-BWP-cp for uplink (UL)(transmissions).

DL transmissions and/or UL transmissions may be organized into frameswith T_(f)=(Δƒ_(max) N_(f)/100)·T_(c)=10 ms duration, each consisting often subframes (and/or a different number of subframes) ofT_(sf)=(Δƒ_(max)N_(f)/1000)·T_(c)=1 ms duration. A number of consecutiveOFDM symbols per subframe may be N_(symb) ^(subframe,μ)=N_(symb)^(slot)N_(slot) ^(subframe,μ). Each frame may be divided into twoequally-sized half-frames of five subframes each with half-frame 0consisting of subframes 0-4 and half-frame 1 consisting of subframes5-9. There may be one set of frames in the uplink and/or one set offrames in the DL on a carrier.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a UL-DL timing relationship. Uplinkframe number i for transmission from the UE may start a duration of time(e.g., T_(TA)=(N_(TA)+N_(TA,offset))T_(c), as illustrated in FIG. 6)before a start of the corresponding DL frame at the UE whereN_(TA,offset) depends on a frequency band (associated with 3GPP TS38.133).

FIG. 7A illustrates a table 700 associated with a number of OFDM symbolsper slot, a number of slots per frame and a number of slots per subframefor a normal CP. FIG. 7B illustrates a table 750 associated with anumber of OFDM symbols per slot, a number of slots per frame and anumber of slots per subframe for an extended CP. For subcarrier spacingconfiguration μ, slots may be numbered n_(s) ^(μ)∈{0, . . . , N_(slot)^(subframe,μ)−1} in increasing order within a subframe and n_(s,f)^(μ)∈{0, . . . , N_(slot) ^(frame,μ)−1} in increasing order within aframe. There may be N_(symb) ^(slot) consecutive OFDM symbols in a slotwhere N_(symb) ^(slot) depends on the CP associated with the table 700and/or the table 750. The start of slot n_(s) ^(μ) in a subframe isaligned in time with the start of OFDM symbol n_(s) ^(μ)N_(symb) ^(slot)in the same subframe.

FIG. 8 illustrates a table 800 associated with slot formats in a normalCP. In some examples, FDM symbols in a slot can be classified as‘downlink’ (denoted ‘D’ in the table 800), ‘flexible’ (denoted ‘X’ inthe table 800) and/or ‘uplink’ (denoted ‘U’ in the table 800). The table800 may be used when a Slot Format Indicator Radio Network TemporaryIdentifier (SFI-RNTI) is used for slot format indication (associatedwith 3GPP TS 38.213, where signaling of slot formats is described). In aslot in a DL frame, a UE may assume that DL transmissions occur in‘downlink’ and/or ‘flexible’ symbols. In a slot in an UL frame, the UEmay only transmit in ‘uplink’ and/or ‘flexible’ symbols.

A time-continuous signal S_(l) ^((p,μ))(t) on an antenna port p and asubcarrier spacing configuration μ for an OFDM symbol l in a subframefor a physical channel and/or a signal different than Physical RandomAccess Channel (PRACH) may be defined by

${S_{l}^{({p,\mu})}(t)} = {\sum\limits_{k = 0}^{{N_{grid}^{{size},\mu}N_{sc}^{RB}} - 1}{a_{k,l}^{({p,\mu})} \cdot e^{{j\; 2{\pi{({k + k_{0}^{\mu} - {N_{grid}^{{size},\mu}{N_{sc}^{RB}/2}}})}}\Delta\;{f{({t - {N_{{CP},l}^{\mu}T_{c}} - t_{{start},l}^{\mu}})}}},}}}$

where t_(start,) ^(μ)≤t<t_(start,l) ^(μ)+(N_(u) ^(μ)+N_(CP,l) ^(μ))T_(c)is associated with a time within the subframe. Alternatively and/oradditionally, one or more of the following equations may be applied:

     N_(u)^(μ) = 2048κ ⋅ 2^(−μ)  and/or$N_{{CP},l}^{\mu} = \{ {\begin{matrix}{512{\kappa \cdot 2^{- \mu}}} & {{extended}\mspace{14mu}{cyclic}\mspace{14mu}{prefix}} & \; \\{{144{\kappa \cdot 2^{- \mu}}} + {16\kappa}} & {{{normal}\mspace{14mu}{cyclic}\mspace{14mu}{prefix}},} & {l = {{0\mspace{14mu}{or}\mspace{14mu} l} = {7 \cdot 2^{\mu}}}} \\{144{\kappa \cdot 2^{- \mu}}} & {{{normal}\mspace{14mu}{cyclic}\mspace{14mu}{prefix}},} & {l \neq {0\mspace{14mu}{and}\mspace{14mu} l} \neq {7 \cdot 2^{\mu}}}\end{matrix}.} $

A starting position t_(start,l) ^(μ) of the OFDM symbol may be definedas

$t_{{start},l}^{\mu} = \{ {\begin{matrix}0 & {l = 0} \\{t_{{start},{l - 1}}^{\mu} + {( {N_{u}^{\mu} + N_{{CP},{l - 1}}^{\mu}} ) \cdot T_{c}}} & {otherwise}\end{matrix}.} $

A value k₀ ^(μ)∈{−6, 0,+6} may be obtained from a higher-layer parameterk0 and/or may be configured such that a lowest numbered subcarrier in acommon resource block for the subcarrier spacing configuration μcoincides with a lowest numbered subcarrier in a common resource blockfor a (and/or any) subcarrier spacing configuration less than μ.

A time-continuous signal S_(l) ^((p,μ))(t) on an antenna port p and asubcarrier spacing configuration μ for an OFDM symbol l in a subframefor a physical channel and/or signal different than PRACH may be definedby

$\mspace{79mu}{{{s_{l}^{({p,\mu})}(t)} = {\sum\limits_{k = 0}^{L_{RA} - 1}{a_{k}^{({p,{RA}})} \cdot e^{j\; 2\;{\pi{({k + {Kk}_{1} + \overset{\_}{k}})}}\Delta\;{f_{RA}{({t - {N_{{CP},l}^{RA}T_{c}} - t_{start}^{RA}})}}}}}},{where}}$     K = Δ f/Δ f_(RA), k₁ = k₀^(μ) + N_(BWP, i)^(start)N_(sc)^(RB) + n_(RA)^(start)N_(sc)^(RB) + n_(RA)N_(RB)^(RA)N_(sc)^(RB) − N_(grid)^(grid, μ)N_(sc)^(RB)/2  and/or  t_(start)^(RA) ≤ t < t_(start)^(RA) + (N_(u) + N_(CP, l)^(RA))T_(c)

may be true.

Δƒ may be a subcarrier spacing of an initial active uplink bandwidthpart during initial access. Alternatively and/or additionally, Δƒ may bethe subcarrier spacing of an active uplink bandwidth part separate frominitial access. Alternatively and/or additionally, k₀ ^(μ)∈{−6, 0, +6}may be obtained from the higher-layer parameter k0 and/or may beconfigured such that a lowest numbered subcarrier in a common resourceblock for the subcarrier spacing configuration μ coincides with a lowestnumbered subcarrier in a common resource block for a (and/or any)subcarrier spacing configuration less than μ.

Alternatively and/or additionally, N_(BWP,i) ^(start) may be a lowestnumbered resource block of the initial active uplink bandwidth partbased upon common resource block indexing and/or may be derived by ahigher-layer parameter initial-UL-BWP during initial access.Alternatively and/or additionally, N_(BWP,i) ^(start) is a lowestnumbered resource block of the active uplink bandwidth part based uponcommon resource block indexing and/or may be derived by a higher-layerparameter UL-BWP of an active uplink bandwidth part separate frominitial access.

Alternatively and/or additionally, n_(RA) ^(start) is a frequency offsetof a lowest PRACH transmission occasion in a frequency domain withrespect to PRB 0 of the initial active uplink bandwidth part given by ahigher-layer parameter prach-frequency-start during initial accessassociated with the initial active uplink bandwidth part. Alternativelyand/or additionally, n_(RA) ^(start) is a frequency offset of a lowestPRACH transmission occasion in the frequency domain with respect to PRB0 of the active uplink bandwidth part given by the higher-layerparameter prach-frequency-start associated with the active uplinkbandwidth part separate from initial access.

Alternatively and/or additionally, n_(RA) is a PRACH transmissionoccasion index in the frequency domain for a given PRACH transmissionoccasion in one time instance. Alternatively and/or additionally, N_(RB)^(RA) is a number of resource blocks occupied and is given by aparameter allocation expressed in number of RBs for PUSCH.

t_(start) ^(RA) may correspond to a starting position of the PRACHpreamble. The subframe may (be assumed to) start at t=0. Alternativelyand/or additionally, a timing advanced value may (be assumed to) beN_(TA)=0 Alternatively and/or additionally, l may be associated with astarting symbol parameter.

In some examples, N_(CP,l) ^(RA)=N_(CP) ^(RA)+n·16κ may be true. Incases where Δƒ_(R)∈{1.25,5} kHz, n may be equal to 0. Alternativelyand/or additionally, in cases where Δƒ_(RA)∈{5,30,60,120} kHz, n may bea number of times that an interval └t_(start) ^(RA),t_(start)^(RA)+(N_(u) ^(RA)+N_(CP) ^(RA))T_(c)┘ overlaps with a time instance 0and/or a time instance (Δƒ_(max)N_(f)/20000)·T_(c)=0.5 ms in a subframe.

FIG. 9 illustrates a table 900 associated with a starting position foran exemplary PRACH preamble where Δƒ_(RA)∈{1.25,15,30} kHz. FIG. 10illustrates a table 1000 associated with a starting position for anexemplary PRACH preamble where Δƒ_(RA)∈{60,120} kHz.

RAT and/or NR (associated with 5G) may accommodate a wide range ofservices. Accordingly, traffic may have various requirements. Forexample, one or more types of traffic (e.g., eMBB and/or other(conventional) mobile network traffic), may be associated with largeamounts of data and/or less strict latency requirements. Alternativelyand/or additionally, one or more other types of traffic (e.g., UltraReliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC)) may be associated withsmaller amounts of data and/or stricter latency and/or reliabilityrequirements. Semi-statically splitting time resources and/or frequencyresources for different types of traffic may inhibit resourceutilization of the base station because arrival of data and/or a type ofthe data is difficult to predict. Accordingly, a base station mayattempt to schedule data traffic on available resources. For example, ifdata associated with delay sensitive services (e.g., data associatedwith URLLC) arrives at the base station, the base station may releaseone or more resources scheduled for data associated with delay tolerantservices (e.g., data associated with eMBB). A UE associated with (and/orreceiving) the delay tolerant services may need to know that the one ormore resources scheduled for the UE has been released and perform one ormore proper actions (e.g., perform data decoding correctly). Forexample, a preemption indication, used for DL traffic, may betransmitted to the UE. For example, a UE receiving DL data (for eMBB)may monitor (for) a preemption indication to determine whether one ormore scheduled resources for the DL data is preempted. In some examples,the preemption indication may be carried on group common PhysicalDownlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

In some examples, a UE may be configured with an Interruption RadioNetwork Temporary Identifier (INT-RNTI) provided by a higher layerparameter INT-RNTI for monitoring PDCCH conveying DCI format 2_1 if theUE is provided a higher layer parameter Preemp-DL and Preemp-DL=ON.Alternatively and/or additionally, the UE may be configured with a setof serving cells by a higher layer parameter INT-cell-to-INT, a mappingfor each serving cell in the set of serving cells to a field in DCIformat 2_1 by a higher layer parameter cell-to-INT, an informationpayload size for DCI format 2_1 by higher layer parameterINT-DCI-payload-length and/or an indication granularity fortime-frequency resources by a higher layer parameter INT-TF-unit foreach serving cell in the set of serving cells.

Alternatively and/or additionally, if a UE detects a DCI format 2_1 fora serving cell from the set of serving cells, the UE may assume that notransmission to the UE is present in PRBs and in symbols, from a set ofPRBs and a set of symbols of the last monitoring period, that areindicated by the DCI format 2_1. The indication by the DCI format 2_1may not be applicable to reception of SS/PBCH blocks.

The set of PRBs may be equal to an active DL Bandwidth Part (BWP) and/ormay include B_(INT) PRBs. In some examples, if a UE detects a DCI format2_1 in a PDCCH transmitted in a control resource set in a slot, the setof symbols indicated by a field in DCI format 2_1 includes the lastN_(symb) ^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(μ−μ) ^(INT) symbols prior to the firstsymbol of the control resource set in the slot, where T_(INT) may be avalue of a higher layer parameter Monitoring-periodicity-PDCCH·slot,N_(symb) ^(slot) symb may be a number of symbols per slot, μ maycorrespond to a subcarrier spacing configuration (and/or a numerology)for a serving cell with mapping to a respective field in the DCI format2_1, μ_(INT) may correspond to a subcarrier spacing configuration of aDL BWP (and/or a numerology) where the UE receives the PDCCH conveyingthe DCI format 2_1, and/or m may be a natural number. If the UE isconfigured with higher layer parameters UL-DL-configuration-commonand/or UL-DL-configuration-common-Set2, symbols indicated as uplink byUL-DL-configuration-common or UL-DL-configuration-common-Set2 may beexcluded from the last N_(symb) ^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(μ−μ) ^(INT) symbolsprior to the first symbol of the control resource set in the slot. Aresulting set of symbols includes a number of symbols that is denoted asN_(INT).

In some examples, the UE may not be expected to be provided values of μ,μ_(INT), and T_(INT) which result in a value of N_(symb)^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(μ−μ) ^(INT) not being an integer.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the UE may be provided indicationgranularity for the set of PRBs and/or for the set of symbols by ahigher layer parameter INT-TF-unit. In some examples, if a value ofINT-TF-unit is 0, 14 bits of a field in DCI format 2_1 have a one-to-onemapping with 14 groups of consecutive symbols from the set of symbolswhere each of first N_(INT)−└N_(INT)14┘·14 symbol groups includes└N_(INT)/14┘ symbols, each of last 14-_(INT)+└N_(INT)/14┘·14 symbolgroups includes └N_(INT)/14┘ symbols, a bit value of 0 indicatestransmission to the UE in the symbol group and a bit value of 1indicates no transmission to the UE in the corresponding symbol group.

Alternatively and/or additionally, if the value of INT-TF-unit is 1, 7pairs of bits of a field in the DCI format 2_1 have a one-to-one mappingwith 7 groups of consecutive symbols where each of the firstN_(INT)−└N_(INT)/7┘·7 symbol groups includes ┌N_(INT)/7┐ symbols, eachof the last 7−N_(INT)+└N_(IN)/7┘·7 symbol groups includes └N_(INT)/7┘symbols, a first bit in a pair of bits for a symbol group is applicableto a subset of first ┌B_(INT)/2┐ PRBs from the a of B_(INT) PRBs, asecond bit in the pair of bits for the symbol group is applicable to asubset of last └B_(INT)/2┘ PRBs from the set of B_(INT) PRBs, a bitvalue of 0 indicates transmission to the UE in the symbol group andsubset of PRBs, and a bit value of 1 indicates no transmission to the UEin the corresponding symbol group and subset of PRBs.

If the UE is configured with a Secondary Cell Group (SCG), the UE mayapply and/or perform one or more procedures associated with a MasterCell Group (MCG) and/or the SCG. In some examples, in association withprocedures that are applied for the MCG, the terms ‘secondary cell’,‘secondary cells’, ‘serving cell’ and/or ‘serving cells’ may refer tosecondary cell, secondary cells, serving cell and/or serving cellsassociated with the MCG, respectively. In some examples, in associationwith procedures that are applied for the SCG, the terms ‘secondarycell’, ‘secondary cells’, ‘serving cell’ and/or ‘serving cells’ mayrefer to secondary cell, secondary cells (not including PrimarySecondary Cell (PSCell)), serving cell and/or serving cells associatedwith the SCG, respectively. Alternatively and/or additionally, the term‘primary cell” may refer to the PSCell of the SCG.

In some examples, a UE may monitor a set of PDCCH candidates in one ormore control resource sets on the active DL BWP on each activatedserving cell according to corresponding search spaces where monitoringimplies decoding each PDCCH candidate according to monitored DownlinkControl Information (DCI) formats. A UE may be configured by a higherlayer parameter SSB-periodicityServingCell (e.g., a periodicity of halfframes for reception of Synchronization Signal (SS)/Physical BroadcastChannel (PBCH) blocks in a serving cell).

In some examples, the UE may perform one or more operations associatedwith monitoring of a PDCCH candidate. In some examples, if the UE hasreceived SSB-transmitted-SIB1 and/or has not received SSB-transmittedfor a serving cell and/or if at least one Resource Element (RE) formonitoring a PDCCH candidate for a DCI format with cyclic redundancycheck (CRC) not scrambled by SI-RNTI on the serving cell overlaps withat least one RE corresponding to a SS/PBCH block index provided bySSB-transmitted-SIB1, the UE is not required to monitor the PDCCHcandidate. Alternatively and/or additionally, if the UE has receivedSSB-transmitted for a serving cell and/or if at least one RE formonitoring a PDCCH candidate for a DCI format with CRC not scrambled bySI-RNTI on the serving cell overlaps with one or more (respective) REscorresponding to a SS/PBCH block index provided by SSB-transmitted, theUE is not required to monitor the PDCCH candidate. Alternatively and/oradditionally, if the UE has not received both SSB-transmitted-SIB1 andSSB-transmitted for a serving cell and if the UE monitors the PDCCHcandidate for a TypeO-PDCCH common search space on the serving cell, theUE may assume that no SS/PBCH block is transmitted in REs used formonitoring the PDCCH candidate on the serving cell.

In some examples, if a carrier aggregation capability for a UE, asincluded in UE-NR-Capability, is larger than 4, the UE includes anindication in UE-NR-Capability for a maximum number of PDCCH candidatesthe UE can monitor per slot when the UE is configured for carrieraggregation operation over more than 4 cells. When the UE is configuredfor carrier aggregation operation over more than 4 cells, the UE is notexpected to be configured with a number of PDCCH candidates to monitorper slot that is larger than the maximum number.

PDCCH search spaces may correspond to a set of PDCCH candidates for a UEto monitor. A search space may be a common search space and/or aUE-specific search space (e.g., specific to the UE). The UE may monitorPDCCH candidates in one or more of the following search spaces: aTypeO-PDCCH common search space for a DCI format with CRC scrambled by aSystem Information (SI) Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) on aprimary cell; a Type0A-PDCCH common search space for a DCI format withCRC scrambled by a SI-RNTI on a primary cell; a Type1-PDCCH commonsearch space for a DCI format with CRC scrambled by a Random Access RNTI(RA-RNTI), a Temporary Cell RNTI (TC-RNTI), and/or a Cell RNTI (C-RNTI)on a primary cell; a Type2-PDCCH common search space for a DCI formatwith CRC scrambled by a Paging RNTI (P-RNTI) on a primary cell; aType3-PDCCH common search space for a DCI format with CRC scrambled byINT-RNTI, Slot Format Indicator (SFI) RNTI (SFI-RNTI), Transmit PowerControl (TPC) PRACH RNTI (TPC-PRACH-RNTI), TPC Physical Uplink ControlChannel (PUCCH) RNTI (TPC-PUCCH-RNTI), TPC Sounding Reference Signal(SRS) RNTI (TPC-SRS-RNTI), C-RNTI, one or more Configured Scheduling(CS) RNTIs (CS-RNTIs) and/or Semi-Persistent (SP) Channel StateInformation (CSI) RNTI (SP-CSI-RNTI); and/or a UE-specific search spacefor a DCI format with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI, one or more CS-RNTIsand/or SP-CSI-RNTI.

FIG. 11 illustrates a table 1100 associated with Control Channel Element(CCE) aggregation levels and/or a number of PDCCH candidates per CCEaggregation level. A UE may be provided a configuration for a controlresource set for a Type0-PDCCH common search space by a higher layerparameter RMSI-PDCCH-Config and/or a subcarrier spacing by a higherlayer parameter RMSI-scs for PDCCH reception. The UE may determine thecontrol resource set and/or monitoring occasions for a Type0-PDCCHcommon search space. The TypeO-PDCCH common search space is defined byCCE aggregation levels and/or a number of PDCCH candidates per CCEaggregation level presented in table 1100. The control resource setconfigured for the TypeO-PDCCH common search space has control resourceset index 0. The Type0-PDCCH common search space has search space index0.

A control resource set associated with the Type0A-PDCCH common searchspace and/or for the Type2-PDCCH common search space may be the same asthe control resource set for the Type0-PDCCH common search space. A UEis provided a configuration for the Type0A-PDCCH common search space bya higher layer parameter osi-SearchSpace and/or the CCE aggregationlevels and the number of PDCCH candidates per CCE aggregation level ispresented in table 1100. The UE may be provided a configuration for theType2-PDCCH common search space by a higher layer parameterpaging-SearchSpace. The CCE aggregation levels and the number of PDCCHcandidates per CCE aggregation level are presented in table 1100.

For the Type1-PDCCH common search space, a UE may be provided aconfiguration for a control resource set by a higher layer parameterrach-coreset-configuration and/or a configuration for a search space bya higher layer parameter ra-SearchSpace. If a higher layer parameterrach-coreset-configuration is not provided to the UE, the controlresource set for the Type1-PDCCH common search space is the same as forthe Type0-PDCCH common search space.

If a UE is not provided a higher layer parameter osi-SearchSpace for theType0A-PDCCH common search space, an association between monitoringoccasions for the Type0A-PDCCH common search space and the SS/PBCH blockindex is the same as an association of monitoring occasions associatedwith the Type0-PDCCH common search space.

If a UE is not provided a higher layer parameter paging-SearchSpace forthe Type2-PDCCH common search space, an association between monitoringoccasions for the Type2-PDCCH common search space and the SS/PBCH blockindex is the same as an association of monitoring occasions associatedwith the Type0-PDCCH common search space.

If a UE is not provided a higher layer parameter ra-SearchSpace for theType1-PDCCH common search space, an association between monitoringoccasions for the Type1-PDCCH common search space and the SS/PBCH blockindex is the same as an association of monitoring occasions associatedwith the Type0-PDCCH common search space.

The UE may assume that a Demodulation Reference Signal (DM-RS) antennaport associated with PDCCH reception in the Type0-PDCCH common searchspace, the Type0A-PDCCH common search space and/or the Type2-PDCCHcommon search space, and/or for corresponding Physical Downlink SharedChannel (PDSCH) receptions and/or a DM-RS antenna port associated withSS/PBCH reception are quasi co-located with respect to delay spread,Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average delay, and spatial Rx parameters.Alternatively and/or additionally, a value for a DM-RS scramblingsequence initialization is a cell ID.

A subcarrier spacing and/or a CP length for PDCCH reception with theType0A-PDCCH common search space, the Type1-PDCCH common search space,and/or the Type2-PDCCH common search space may be the same as for PDCCHreception with the Type0-PDCCH common search space.

A UE may assume that a DM-RS antenna port associated with PDCCHreception and/or PDSCH reception in the Type1-PDCCH common search spaceare quasi co-located with an SS/PBCH block identified in an initialaccess procedure and/or with a received CSI-RS with respect to delayspread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average delay and/or spatial Rxparameters (when applicable).

If a value for a DM-RS scrambling sequence initialization for theType0A-PDCCH common search space, the Type1-PDCCH common search spaceand/or the Type2-PDCCH common search space is not provided by a higherlayer parameter PDCCH-DMRS-Scrambling-ID in Scrambling-ID inSystemInformationBlockType1, the value is a cell ID.

If a UE is configured for downlink bandwidth part (BWP) operation, oneor more of the above configurations for the common search spaces applyfor the initial active DL BWP. Alternatively and/or additionally, the UEcan be additionally configured a control resource set for theTypeO-PDCCH common search space, the Type0A-PDCCH common search space,the Type1-PDCCH common search space and/or the Type2-PDCCH common searchspace for each configured DL BWP on the primary cell, other than aninitial active DL BWP.

In some examples, for each DL BWP configured to a UE in a serving cell,a UE may be provided by higher layer signalling with P control resourcesets where P≤3. For control resource set p, 0≤p<P, the higher layersignalling may provide one or more of: a control resource set index by ahigher layer parameter CORESET-ID; a DM-RS scrambling sequenceinitialization value provided by a higher layer parameterPDCCH-DMRS-Scrarnbling-ID; a number of consecutive symbols provided by ahigher layer parameter CORESET-time-duration; a set of resource blocksprovided by a higher layer parameter CORESET-freq-dom; a CCE-to-REGmapping provided by a higher layer parameterCORESET-CCE-to-REG-mapping-type; a Resource Element Group (REG) bundlesize, in case of interleaved CCE-to-REG mapping, provided by a higherlayer parameter CORESET-REG-bundle-size; a cyclic shift for a REG bundleinterleaver provided by a higher layer parameter CORESET-shift-index; anantenna port quasi co-location, from a set of antenna port quasico-locations provided by a higher layer parameter TCI-StatesPDCCH,indicating quasi co-location information of the DM-RS antenna port forPDCCH reception; and/or an indication for a presence or absence of atransmission configuration indication (TCI) field for DCI format 1_0 orDCI format 1_1 transmitted by a PDCCH in control resource set p, by ahigher layer parameter TCI-PresentInDCI.

In some examples, for each control resource set in a DL BWP of a servingcell, a respective higher layer parameter CORESET-freq-dom provides abitmap. Bits of the bitmap have a one-to-one mapping withnon-overlapping groups of 6 PRBs, in ascending order of the PRB index inthe DL BWP bandwidth of N_(RB) ^(BWP) PRBs with starting positionN_(BWP) ^(start) where the first PRB of the first group of 6 PRBs hasindex 619 |N_(BWP) ^(start)/6|. A group of 6 PRBs is allocated to acontrol resource set if a corresponding bit value in the bitmap is 1.Alternatively and/or additionally, if a corresponding bit value in thebitmap is 0, the group of 6 PRBs is not allocated to the controlresource set.

Alternatively and/or additionally, if a UE has received initialconfiguration of more than one TCI states by a higher layer parameterTCI-StatesPDCCH containing the more than one TCI states but has notreceived a MAC CE activation for one or more of the more than one TCIstates, the UE may assume that the DM-RS antenna port associated withPDCCH reception in the UE-specific search space is quasi co-located withan SS/PBCH block the UE identified during an initial access procedurewith respect to delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, averagedelay and/or spatial Rx parameters.

Alternatively and/or additionally, if a UE has received a higher layerparameter TCI-StatesPDCCH containing a single TCI state, the UE may thata DM-RS antenna port associated with PDCCH reception in a UE-specificsearch space is quasi co-located with one or more DL RSs configured bythe TCI state.

In some examples, for each DL BWP of a serving cell where a UE isconfigured to monitor PDCCH in a search space, the UE is configured withan association between a search space set index S, 0≤s<S, where S≤10,and a control resource set index p by a higher layer parametersearch-space-config. Alternatively and/or additionally, for the searchspace set S in the control resource set p, the UE may be configured withone or more of the following by the higher layer parametersearch-space-config (and/or one or more different higher layerparameters): an indication that the search space set is a common searchspace set or a UE-specific search space set by a higher layer parameterCommon-search-space flag; if the search space set S is for a commonsearch space, an indication by a higher layer parameter RNTI-monitoringto monitor PDCCH for one or more of DCI format 3_0 and DCI format 1_0,with CRC scrambled by a RNTI from RNTIs, DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1,DCI format 2_2 and/or DCI format 2_3; if the search space set S is aUE-specific search space, an indication by higher layer parameterUSS-DCI format to monitor PDCCH either for DCI format 0_0 and DCI format1_0, and/or for DCI format 0_1 and DCI format 1_1; a number of PDCCHcandidates M(_(p,s) ^((L)) per CCE aggregation level L by higher layerparameters aggregationLevel1, aggregationLevel2, aggregationLevel4,aggregationLevel8 and/or aggregationLeve16, for CCE aggregation level 1,CCE aggregation level 2, CCE aggregation level 4, CCE aggregation level8 and/or CCE aggregation level 16 (respectively); a PDCCH monitoringperiodicity of k_(p,s) slots by a higher layer parametermonitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset; a PDCCH monitoring offset of 0_(p,s)slots, where 0≤o_(p,s)<k_(p,s), by a higher layer parametermonitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset; and/or a PDCCH monitoring patternwithin a slot, indicating one or more first symbols of the controlresource set within a slot for PDCCH monitoring, by a higher layerparameter monitoringSymbolsWithinSlot.

In some examples, if the higher layer parametermonitoringSymbolsWithinSlot indicates to a UE only one PDCCH monitoringoccasion within a slot, the UE may not be expected to be configured(with) a corresponding search space set S for a PDCCH subcarrier spacingother than 15 kHz (and/or a different frequency) if the control resourceset p associated with the search space S includes at least one symbolafter the third slot symbol.

Alternatively and/or additionally, for a subcarrier spacing of 15 KHz(and/or the different frequency), if the higher layer parametermonitoringSymbolsWithinSlot for a search space set S indicates to the UEmerely one PDCCH monitoring occasion in a slot for a correspondingcontrol resource set p and the control resource set p includes at leastone symbol after the third slot symbol, the UE may expect that allcontrol resource sets configured to the UE are located within at mostthree (same) consecutive symbols in the slot.

In some examples, a UE may determine a PDCCH monitoring occasion from aPDCCH monitoring periodicity, a PDCCH monitoring offset and/or a PDCCHmonitoring pattern within a slot. For a search space set S in a controlresource set p, the UE may determine that one or more PDCCH monitoringoccasions exists in a slot associated with a number n_(s,f) ^(μ) in aframe associate with a number n_(f) if (n_(ƒ)·N_(slot)^(frame,μ)+n_(s,f) ^(μ)−0_(p,s))mod k_(p,s)=0 is true.

In some examples, a PDCCH UE-specific search space S_(k) _(p,s) ^((L))at CCE aggregation level L∈{1, 2, 4, 8, 16} may be defined by a set ofPDCCH candidates for CCE aggregation level L.

In some examples, if a UE is configured with a higher layer parameterCrossCarrierSchedulingConfig for a serving cell, the carrier indicatorfield value may correspond to a value indicated byCrossCarrierSchedulingConfig.

In some examples, for a DL BWP of a serving cell on which a UE monitorsPDCCH candidates in a UE-specific search space, if the UE is notconfigured with a carrier indicator field, the UE may monitor the PDCCHcandidates without the carrier indicator field. Alternatively and/oradditionally, for a serving cell on which a UE monitors PDCCH candidatesin a UE-specific search space, if a UE is configured with a carrierindicator field, the UE may monitor the PDCCH candidates with thecarrier indicator field.

In some examples, a UE may not be expected to monitor PDCCH candidateson a DL BWP of a secondary cell if the UE is configured to monitor PDCCHcandidates with a carrier indicator field corresponding to thatsecondary cell in another serving cell. For a DL BWP of a serving cellon which the UE monitors PDCCH candidates, the UE may monitor PDCCHcandidates (at least) for the same serving cell.

FIG. 12 illustrates a table 1200 associated with a maximum number ofPDCCH candidates, M_(PDCCH) ^(max,slot), per slot and/or per servingcell as a function of a subcarrier spacing value (e.g., 2^(μ)·15 kHz)where μ∈{0,1,2,3}. In some examples, the maximum number of PDCCHcandidates may be associated with CCE aggregation levels and/or DCIformats with different sizes in a search space that a UE is expected tomonitor.

FIG. 13 illustrates a table 1300 associated with a maximum number ofnon-overlapped CCEs, C_(PDCCH) ^(max,slot), per slot and/or per servingcell as a function of a subcarrier spacing value (e.g., 2^(μ)·15 kHz)where μ∈{0,1,2,3}, in cases where a higher layer parameterMonitoring-symbols-PDCCH-within-slot is indicative of merely one PDCCHmonitoring occasion within a slot. Alternatively and/or additionally,CCEs may be non-overlapped if the CCEs are associated with differentcontrol resource set indexes and/or if the CCEs are associated withdifferent first symbols for reception of respective PDCCH candidates.

In some examples, S_(css) may be associated with a set of search spacesets w_(css) for common search spaces in a corresponding set P_(css) ofcontrol resource sets p_(css) and/or S_(uss) may be associated with aset of search space sets s_(uss) for UE-specific search spaces in acorresponding set P_(uss) of control resource sets p_(uss) where a UEmonitors PDCCH candidates in a slot. In some examples, if

${{\sum\limits_{\underset{P_{css} \in P_{css}}{S_{css} \in S_{css}}}^{\;}{\sum\limits_{L}^{\;}M_{P_{css},S_{css}}^{(L)}}} + {\sum\limits_{\underset{P_{uss} \in P_{uss}}{S_{uss} \in S_{uss}}}^{\;}{\sum\limits_{L}^{\;}M_{P_{uss},S_{uss}}^{(L)}}}} > M_{PDCCH}^{\max,{slot}}$

is true, the UE may monitor

$M_{PDCCH}^{css} = {\min( {M_{PDCCH}^{\max,{slot}},{\sum\limits_{\underset{P_{uss} \in P_{css}}{S_{uss} \in S_{css}}}^{\;}{\sum\limits_{L}^{\;}M_{P_{css},S_{css}}^{(L)}}}} )}$

PDCCH candidates for the common search spaces and/or the UE may monitorM_(PDCCH) ^(uss)=M_(PDCCH) ^(max,slot)−M_(PDCCH) ^(css) PDCCH candidatesfor the UE-specific search spaces in the slot.

Alternatively and/or additionally, for a search space set S associatedwith control resource set p, CCE indexes for aggregation level Lcorresponding to PDCCH candidate m_(s,n) _(CI) of a search space set inslot n_(s,f) ^(μ) for a serving cell corresponding to a carrierindicator field value n_(CI) are given by

${{L \cdot \{ {( {Y_{p,n_{s,f}^{\mu}} + \lfloor \frac{m_{s,n_{CI}} \cdot N_{{CCE},p}}{L \cdot M_{p,s,\max}^{(L)}} \rfloor + n_{CI}} ){mod}\lfloor {N_{{CCE},p}/L} \rfloor} \}} + i},$

where: for a (and/or any) common search space Y_(p,n) _(s,f) ^(μ)=0 istrue; for a UE-specific search space, Y_(p,n) _(s,f) ^(μ)=(A_(p)·Y_(p,n)_(s,f) ^(μ)−1)mod D, Y_(p,−1)=n_(RNTI)≠0, A₀=39827, A₁=39829, A₂=39839,and/or D=65537 are true; i=0, . . . , L−1; N_(CCE,p) is a number ofCCEs, numbered from 0 to N_(CCE,p)−1, in a control resource set p;n_(CI) is a carrier indicator field value if the UE is configured with acarrier indicator field by a higher layer parameterCrossCarrierSchedulingConfig for a serving cell on which PDCCH ismonitored; if the UE is not configured with a carrier indicator field bya higher layer parameter CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig for a serving cellon which PDCCH is monitored, n_(CI)=0 may be true; m_(s,n) _(CI) =0, . .. , M_(p,s,n) _(CI) ^((L))−1 may be true, where M_(p,s,n) _(CI) ^((L))is a number of PDCCH candidates the UE is configured to monitor foraggregation level L for a serving cell corresponding to n_(CI) and/or asearch space set S; and/or for a (and/or any) common search space,M_(p,s,max) ^((L))=M_(p,s,0) ^((L)) may be true; and/or for aUE-specific search space, M_(p,s,max) ^((L)) is a maximum of M(_(p,s,n)_(CI) ^((L)) over configured n_(CI) values for a CCE aggregation level Lof search space set S in the control resource set p.

In some examples, if a (and/or any) CCE index for a PDCCH candidate withindex m_(s,n) _(CI) , 2 with aggregation level L in a control resourceset p overlaps with a (and/or any) CCE index for a PDCCH candidate withindex m_(s,n) _(CI) 1, 1 with aggregation level L in the controlresource set p, where m_(s,n) _(CI) , 1<m_(s,n) _(CI) , 2, , the UE maynot be expected to monitor the PDCCH candidate with index m_(s,n) _(CI), 2.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a UE may not be expected to beconfigured to monitor DCI format 0_1 and/or DCI format 1_1 in a commonsearch space.

In some examples, a UE configured to monitor PDCCH candidates in aserving cell with a DCI format size with a carrier indicator fieldand/or a CRC scrambled by a C-RNTI, where the PDCCH candidates may haveone or more possible values of a carrier indicator field for the DCIformat size, may assume that a PDCCH candidate with the DCI format sizemay be transmitted in the serving cell in a (and/or any) PDCCH UEspecific search space corresponding to a (and/or any) value of the oneor more possible values of the carrier indicator field for the DCIformat size if the UE includes in UE-NR-Capability an indication for acorresponding capability.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a UE configured with a bandwidth partindicator in DCI format 0_1 and/or DCI format 1_1 may, in case of anactive DL BWP and/or of an active UL BWP change, determine DCIinformation applicable to a new active DL BWP and/or a new UL BWP,respectively.

For unpaired spectrum operation, if a UE is not configured forPUSCH/PUCCH transmission on serving cell c₂, the UE may not be expectedto monitor a PDCCH on a serving cell c₁ if the PDCCH overlaps in timewith SRS transmission (including an (and/or any) interruption due touplink RF retuning time and/or downlink RF retuning time) on a servingcell c₂ and/or if the UE is not capable of simultaneous reception and/ortransmission on the serving cell c₁ and/or the serving cell c₂.

In some examples, DCI format 2_1 may be used for notifying one or morePRBs and/or one or more OFDM symbols where a UE may assume notransmission is intended for the UE. The following information may betransmitted by means of the DCI format 2_1 with a CRC scrambled byINT-RNTI: an identifier for DCI formats; and/or one or more pre-emptionindications (e.g., Pre-emption indication 1, Pre-emption indication 2, .. . , Pre-emption indication N). A size of DCI format 2_1 may beconfigurable by higher layers up to 126 bits. Each pre-emptionindication may be 14 bits.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary DownlinkPreemption information element1400. The exemplary DownlinkPreemption information element 1400 may beused to configure the UE to monitor a PDCCH for an INT-RNTI (e.g.,interruption).

A group common PDCCH may be indicative of a preemption indication. Forexample, a UE may identify the preemption indication based upon thegroup common PDCCH (e.g., the group common PDCCH may indicate thepreemption indication to the UE). Alternatively and/or additionally,cross carrier scheduling associated with a preemption indication may beconfigured. For example, a group common PDCCH on a first cell may beindicative of a preemption indication on a second cell.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a monitoring periodicity of the groupcommon PDCCH may be configured by a base station. For example, themonitoring periodicity may be associated with a first slot length (e.g.,number of slots) associated with the first cell. For example, the firstslot length associated with the monitoring periodicity may be (set to) alength of 1 slot, a length of 2 slots and/or a length of 4 slots (and/ora length of a different number of slots), wherein a slot associated withthe first cell is associated with the first slot length. However, asecond slot length associated with the second cell may be different thanthe first slot length of the first cell (e.g., the second slot lengthassociated with the second cell may be associated with a slot covering0.5 ms and/or the first slot length of the first cell may be associatedwith a slot covering 1 ms) Alternatively and/or additionally, a firstnumber of symbols (e.g., a quantity of symbols, such as OFDM symbols),associated with the first cell, covered by the (single) monitoringperiodicity may be different than a second number of symbols (e.g., aquantity of symbols, such as OFDM symbols), associated with the secondcell, covered by the (single) monitoring periodicity. For example, thefirst cell may be associated with a first numerology and/or a firstsubcarrier spacing and/or the second cell may be associated with asecond numerology and/or a second subcarrier spacing. In an example, thefirst numerology and/or the first subcarrier spacing of the first cellmay be associated with 15 KHz and/or the (single) monitoring periodicityassociated with the first cell may be about 1 ms. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the (single) monitoring periodicity associated with thefirst cell may comprise 14 symbols (e.g., OFDM symbols) associated withthe first cell. The second numerology and/or the second subcarrierspacing may be associated with 30 KHz and/or the (single) monitoringperiodicity may comprise 28 symbols (e.g., OFDM symbols) associated withthe second cell (e.g., due to the first numerology and/or the firstsubcarrier spacing of the first cell being associated with 15 KHz and/orthe second numerology and/or the second subcarrier spacing beingassociated with 30 KHz). Alternatively and/or additionally, a slotassociated with a numerology and/or a subcarrier spacing may comprise 14symbols associated with the numerology and/or the subcarrier spacing.

In some examples, the second number of symbols associated with thesecond cell (e.g., a single monitoring periodicity of a preemptionindication) may be determined based upon N_(symb)^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(μ−μ) ^(INT) , where T_(INT) is a value of a higherlayer parameter Monitoring-periodicity-PDCCH-slot (and/or a differenthigher layer parameter), N_(symb) ^(slot) is a number of symbols perslot, (e.g., 14), μ is a numerology associated with the second cell(indicative of a subcarrier spacing configuration of the second cell)and/or μ_(INT) is a numerology associated with the first cell(indicative of a subcarrier spacing configuration of a DL BWP on thefirst cell).

In an example where μ is equal to 1 (e.g., μ being equal to 1 may beindicative of the second cell being configured with 30 KHz), μ_(INT) isequal to 0 (e.g., μ_(INT) being equal to 0 may be indicative of (a BWPof) the first cell being configured with 15 KHz) and/or T_(INT) is equalto 1, the second number of symbols covered by a single monitoringperiodicity associated with the second cell may be 28. Alternativelyand/or additionally, in an example where μ is equal to 0 (e.g., μ beingequal to 0 may be indicative of the second cell being configured with 15KHz), μ_(INT) is to 1 (e.g., μ_(INT) is equal to 1 being equal to 1 maybe indicative of (a BWP of) the first cell being configured with 30 KHz)and/or T_(INT) is equal to 1, the second number of symbols covered by asingle monitoring periodicity associated with the second cell may be 7.

In some examples, one or more resources indicated by a preemptionindication (e.g., a single preemption indication) may be associated witha monitoring periodicity (e.g., a single monitoring periodicity). Forexample, the one or more resources may be within the monitoringperiodicity. In the example where μ is equal to 0 (e.g., the second cellis configured with 15 KHz), μ_(INT) is equal to 1 (e.g., (a BWP of) thefirst cell is configured with 30 KHz) and/or T_(INT) is equal to 1, afield (e.g., a single field) associated with a first format (e.g., DCIformat 2_1) may be indicative of a preemption indication associated with7 symbols (e.g., 7 OFDM symbols).

In some examples, if a value of a higher layer parameter INT-TF-unit is0, a bit in the field (associated with the first format (e.g., DCIformat 2_1)) may be associated with a symbol (e.g., a single symbol)and/or the bit may be indicative of whether the symbol is preempted(and/or whether one or more other symbols are preempted). In a firstexample, the bit may indicate that the symbol is preempted (and/or thatthe one or more other symbols are preempted). In a second example, thebit may indicate that the symbol is not preempted (and/or that the oneor more other symbols are not preempted).

The first format (e.g., DCI format 2_1) may be associated with a size(e.g., the size may be associated with a number of bits of the fieldand/or a number of symbols of the field) and/or a starting position ofthe field. In some examples, the size (associated with the first format(e.g., DCI format 2_1) and/or indicated by one or more higher layerparameters, such as dci-PayloadSize in a DownlinkPremption informationelement) is a multiple of 14 (e.g., there may be 14 bits and/or 14symbols in the field, there may be 28 bits and/or 28 symbols in thefield, etc.). Alternatively and/or additionally, the starting positionis a multiple of 14 (which may be indicated by one or more higher layerparameters, such as positionInDCI in a DownlinkPremption informationelement).

Accordingly, one or more bits of the field (e.g., the field may beassociated with 14 bits) cannot be used (and/or cannot be utilized). Inan example where a preemption indication associated with the field isassociated with 7 symbols and/or the field is indicative of thepreemption indication being associated with 7 symbols, a first set of 7symbols of the field may be utilized and/or a second set of 7 symbols ofthe field may not be utilized. Alternatively and/or additionally, if abase station indicates a size and/or a starting position of the fieldthat are not multiples of 14 (e.g., 7, 15, 20, etc. are not multiples of14) and/or if the base station transmits instructions associated with aconfiguration where the size and/or the starting position of the fieldthat are not multiples of 14, the UE may not (and/or cannot) comply withthe configuration in accordance with the first format (e.g., DCI format2_1) and/or one or more standards. Thus, errors may occur and/orreconfiguration failure associated with the UE may occur. For example,the UE may perform one or more operations associated withreconfiguration failure (e.g., the one or more operations may compriseone or more of considering reconfiguration failure, performing aconnection re-establishment procedure, etc.).

In a first example, a size of DCI associated with a preemptionindication (e.g., DCI for one or more preemption indications) and/or astarting position of a field associated with the preemption indicationmay be an integer that is not a multiple of 14. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the size of the DCI associated with the preemptionindication may be an integer (and/or any integer) between 0 and amaximum size value. Alternatively and/or additionally, the startingposition of the field associated with the preemption indication may bean integer (and/or any integer) between 0 and a maximum startingposition value. In some examples, the maximum size value and/or themaximum starting position value may be comprised within a database. Forexample, a UE may determine the maximum size value and/or the maximumstarting position value by accessing the database. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the size of the DCI associated with the preemptionindication and/or the starting position of the field associated with thepreemption indication may be a multiple of 6. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the size of the DCI associated with the preemptionindication and/or the starting position of the field associated with thepreemption indication may be a multiple of 12.

In a second example, a base station may set a value of a first higherlayer parameter (e.g., the higher layer parameter INT-TF-unit, which maybe associated with timeFrequencySet in a DownlinkPremption informationelement) to 1 if a number of symbols (e.g., a number of OFDM symbols)associated with a monitoring periodicity of a preemption indication is7. Alternatively and/or additionally, the base station is not allowed to(and/or is not configured to) set the value of the first higher layerparameter to 0 if the number of symbols associated with the monitoringperiodicity of the preemption indication is 7. In some examples, thenumber of symbols may be related to (and/or configured based upon) anumerology and/or a subcarrier spacing of a cell. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the number of symbols may be counted in accordance withone or more symbols associated with the numerology and/or the subcarrierspacing of the cell.

In some examples, setting the value of the first higher layer parameter(e.g., the higher layer parameter INT-TF-unit, which may be associatedwith timeFrequencySet in the DownlinkPremption information element) to 1may be associated with two bits (and/or a different number of bits) inthe field being used for indicating preemption in a frequency domain foreach symbol and/or for each symbol group associated with the field.Alternatively and/or additionally, setting the value of the first higherlayer parameter (e.g., the higher layer parameter INT-TF-unit, which maybe associated with timeFrequencySet in the DownlinkPremption informationelement) to 1 may be associated with 7 symbol groups for preemptionindication in a time domain.

In a third example, a base station may configure one or more parameters(properly) such that a number of symbols (e.g., a number of OFDMsymbols) associated with a monitoring periodicity of a preemptionindication for a cell is more than 7 (or a different number) and/or suchthat the number of symbols is a multiple of 12 and/or 14. Alternativelyand/or additionally, the base station is not allowed to (and/or is notconfigured to) configure the one or more parameters in such a way thatthe number of symbols associated with the monitoring periodicity of thepreemption indication for the cell is 7 and/or less than 7. The one ormore parameters may correspond to N_(symb) ^(slot) (e.g., a number ofsymbols per slot), μ (e.g., a numerology associated with the cell(indicative of a subcarrier spacing configuration of the cell)), μ_(INT)(e.g., a numerology associated with a second cell (indicative of asubcarrier spacing configuration of a DL BWP on the second cell)) and/oran indication of a cell to use for preemption indication monitoring.

In a first embodiment, a base station may configure a size of DCIassociated with a preemption indication (e.g., DCI for the preemptionindication) and/or a starting position of a field associated with thepreemption indication to a UE (and/or for the UE). In some examples, thesize of the DCI associated with the preemption indication and/or thestarting position of the field associated with the preemption indicationmay be an integer that is not a multiple of 14. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the size of the DCI associated with the preemptionindication may be an integer (and/or any integer) between 0 and amaximum size value. Alternatively and/or additionally, the startingposition of the field associated with the preemption indication may bean integer (and/or any integer) between 0 and a maximum startingposition value. Alternatively and/or additionally, the size of the DCIassociated with the preemption indication and/or the starting positionof the field associated with the preemption indication may be a multipleof 7.

In some examples, the preemption indication may be transmitted (to theUE) on a first cell. Alternatively and/or additionally, the preemptionindication may be indicative of one or more preempted resourcesassociated with the first cell (and/or for the first cell).Alternatively and/or additionally, the preemption indication may beindicative of one or more preempted resources associated with a secondcell (and/or for the second cell). In some examples, the first celland/or the second cell may be configured with a single subcarrierspacing (and/or a single numerology).

Alternatively and/or additionally, the first cell and/or the second cellmay be configured with different subcarrier spacings (and/or differentnumerologies). For example, the first cell may be configured with afirst subcarrier spacing and/or the second cell may be configured with asecond subcarrier spacing, where the first subcarrier spacing isdifferent from the second subcarrier spacing. For example, the firstsubcarrier spacing may be greater than the second subcarrier spacing(e.g., the first subcarrier spacing may be 30 KHz and/or the secondsubcarrier spacing may be 15 KHz). Alternatively and/or additionally,the first subcarrier spacing may be less than the second subcarrierspacing (e.g., the first subcarrier spacing may be 15 KHz and/or thesecond subcarrier spacing may be 30 KHz).

In some examples, a base station may configure, for a first UE, a firststarting position, equal to a first number X, associated with a firstpreemption indication. Alternatively and/or additionally, the basestation may configure, for a second UE, a second starting position,equal to a second number X+Y, associated with a second preemptionindication. In some examples, the first starting position may correspondto a bit position (and/or a symbol position) of an initial bit (and/oran initial symbol) associated with the first preemption indication withrespect to other bits (and/or other symbols). Alternatively and/oradditionally, the second starting position may correspond to a bitposition (and/or a symbol position) of an initial bit (and/or an initialsymbol) associated with the second preemption indication.

In some examples, the base station may configure, for a first UE, afirst starting position, equal to the first number X, associated with afirst preemption indication. Alternatively and/or additionally, the basestation may configure, for the first UE, a DCI format size forpreemption indications. The DCI format size for preemption indicationsmay correspond to the second number X+Y.

In some examples, the first preemption indication may be associated withfirst bits having first bit positions equal to positional values X, X+1,. . . , X+Y−1 (e.g., an initial bit position of the first bit positionsmay be equal to a positional value equal to the first number X (e.g.,the first starting position), a second bit position of the first bitpositions, succeeding and/or (directly) following the initial bitposition, may be equal to a positional value X+1, etc. a last bitposition of the first bit positions may be equal to a positional valueX+Y−1). For example, the first bits and/or the first preemptionindication may be carried on the first bit positions. Alternativelyand/or additionally, each bit of the first bits may be equal to 0and/or 1. Alternatively and/or additionally, the second preemptionindication may be associated with second bits having second bitpositions following the first bit positions (e.g., the second bitpositions may be equal to X+Y, X+Y+1, . . . ). For example, the secondbits and/or the second preemption indication may be carried on thesecond bit positions.

In an example, X may be equal to 0, a multiple of 7 and/or a multiple of14 and/or Y may be equal to 7. Y is not equal to 14. Accordingly, aninitial exemplary bit position of the first bit positions may be equalto an exemplary positional value 0 (e.g., the first starting position).A second exemplary bit position, following the initial exemplary bitposition, of the first bit positions may be equal to an exemplarypositional value 1. A third exemplary bit position, following the secondexemplary bit position, of the first bit positions may be equal to anexemplary positional value 2. A fourth exemplary bit position, followingthe third exemplary bit position, of the first bit positions may beequal to an exemplary positional value 3. A fifth exemplary bitposition, following the fourth exemplary bit position, of the first bitpositions may be equal to an exemplary positional value 4. A sixthexemplary bit position, following the fifth exemplary bit position, ofthe first bit positions may be equal to an exemplary positional value 5.A seventh exemplary bit position, following the sixth exemplary bitposition, of the first bit positions may be equal to an exemplarypositional value 6. Each bit position of the first bit positions may beoccupied by (and/or may carry) a bit associated with the firstpreemption indication. Alternatively and/or additionally, one or morebit positions of the first bit positions may be occupied by (and/or maycarry) one or more bits associated with the first preemption indication.

In some examples, the first UE may be the same as (and/or may bedifferent from) the second UE. Alternatively and/or additionally, athird number Y may not be 14. Alternatively and/or additionally, thethird number Y may be equal to 7.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the first UE may retrieve the firstpreemption indication from a field (of 14 bits) comprising 14(consecutive) bit positions (e.g., the 14 bit positions may correspondto X, X+1, X+2, . . . , X+13). Alternatively and/or additionally, thefirst preemption indication may be associated with 14 symbol groups. Forexample, each bit of the field may be associated with a symbol group(e.g., each bit position of the 14 bit positions may be associated witha symbol group).

Alternatively and/or additionally, the first UE may determine whetherone or more scheduled resources are preempted based upon bits associatedwith bit positions corresponding to X, X+1, . . . , X+Y−1.

In some examples, bit positions corresponding to X+Y, X+Y+1, . . . ,X+13 may be associated with symbol groups comprising 0 symbols (e.g.,each bit position of the bit positions corresponding to X+Y, X+Y+1, . .. , X+13 may be associated with a symbol group comprising 0 symbols).

In some examples, the first UE may not determine whether one or morescheduled resources are preempted based upon bits associated with bitpositions corresponding to X+Y, X+Y+1, . . . , X+13. Alternativelyand/or additionally, the first UE may ignore the bits associated withthe bit positions corresponding to X+Y, X+Y+1, . . . , X+13.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the first UE may determine whetherone or more scheduled resources are preempted based upon bits associatedwith bit positions corresponding to X, X+1, . . . , X+6. Alternativelyand/or additionally, bit positions corresponding to X+7, X+8, . . . ,X+13 may be associated with symbol groups comprising 0 symbols (e.g.,each bit position of the bit positions corresponding to X+7, X+8, . . ., X+13 may be associated with a symbol group comprising 0 symbols).Alternatively and/or additionally, the first UE may not determinewhether one or more scheduled resources are preempted based upon bitsassociated with the bit positions corresponding to X+7, X+8, . . . ,X+13. Alternatively and/or additionally, the first UE may ignore thebits associated with the bit positions corresponding to X+7, X+8, . . ., X+13.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the first UE may retrieve the firstpreemption indication from a field having a number of bits equal to thethird number Y, wherein first bits of the field correspond to first bitpositions corresponding to X, X+1, X+2, . . . , X+Y−1. Alternativelyand/or additionally, the first UE may store one or more zero-bits (e.g.,bits equal to 0) in second bit positions following the first bitpositions (and/or may add the one or more zero-bits to the second bitpositions following the first bit positions), such that a total bitlength of a combination of the first bits and the one or more zero-bitsis equal to 14 bits. Alternatively and/or additionally, a number of bitsof the one or more zero-bits may be equal to 14-Y. For example, a secondfield having a number of bits equal to 14 may occupy third bit positionscomprising the first bit positions and/or the second bit positions. Thesecond bit positions may correspond to X+Y, X+Y+1, . . . , X+13. Eachbit position of the second bit positions may be associated with azero-bit (e.g., each bit position of the second bit positions may beoccupied by 0).

In some examples, the first preemption indication may be associated withsymbol groups. A number of symbol groups of the symbol groups may beequal to Y. For example, each bit of the first bits (e.g., associatedwith the number of bits equal to Y) may be associated with a symbolgroup of the symbol groups.

In some examples, the first preemption indication may be transmitted on(and/or using) the first cell (and/or a third cell) and/or may becarried on (and/or using) the first cell (and/or the third cell).Alternatively and/or additionally, the first preemption indication maybe indicative of whether one or more scheduling resources associatedwith the second cell (and/or a fourth cell) are preempted. Alternativelyand/or additionally, a reference resource for the first preemptionindication may comprise symbols, wherein a number of symbols of thesymbols may be equal to Y.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the first UE may retrieve the firstpreemption indication from a field (of 7 bits) comprising 7(consecutive) bit positions (e.g., the 7 bit positions may correspond toX, X+1, X+2, . . . , X+6). Alternatively and/or additionally, the firstpreemption indication may be associated with symbol groups comprising anumber of symbol groups equal to 7. Alternatively and/or additionally,each bit of the field (of 7 bits) may be associated with a symbol groupof the symbol groups. Alternatively and/or additionally, the firstpreemption indication may be transmitted on (and/or using) the firstcell (and/or a fifth cell) and/or the first preemption indication may becarried on (and/or using) the first cell (and/or the fifth cell).Alternatively and/or additionally, the first preemption indication maybe indicative whether one or more scheduling resources associated withthe second cell (and/or a sixth cell) are preempted. Alternativelyand/or additionally, a reference resource for the first preemptionindication may comprise symbols, wherein a number of symbols of thesymbols may be equal to 7.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the number of symbols may be relatedto (and/or configured based upon) the second cell (and/or the sixthcell). Alternatively and/or additionally, the number of symbols may berelated to (and/or configured based upon) a subcarrier spacingassociated with the second cell (and/or the sixth cell). Alternativelyand/or additionally, a symbol length associated with the number ofsymbols may be based upon the subcarrier spacing associated with thesecond cell (and/or the sixth cell). Alternatively and/or additionally,the symbol may be associated with the subcarrier spacing associated withthe second cell (and/or the sixth cell) (and/or the symbol may be forthe subcarrier spacing of the second cell and/or the sixth cell).Alternatively and/or additionally, the symbol length may be related to(and/or configured based upon) the subcarrier spacing associated withthe second cell (and/or the sixth cell). Alternatively and/oradditionally, the symbol length may be a length of a symbol associatedwith the subcarrier spacing associated with the second cell.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a first higher layer parameter (e.g.,a higher layer parameter INT-TF-unit and/or a different higher layerparameter) may be set to 0 for the first preemption indication.Alternatively and/or additionally, the first higher layer parameter(e.g., the higher layer parameter INT-TF-unit and/or a different higherlayer parameter) may be set to 0 for the second cell. Alternativelyand/or additionally, the first higher layer parameter (e.g., the higherlayer parameter INT-TF-unit and/or a different higher layer parameter)may be set to 0 for the first UE (and/or the second UE).

Alternatively and/or additionally, a first subcarrier spacing associatedwith the first cell may be less than (and/or greater than) a secondsubcarrier spacing associated with the second cell. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the first subcarrier spacing associated with the firstcell may be equal to half of the second subcarrier spacing associatedwith the second cell (e.g., the first subcarrier spacing may be 30 KHzand/or the second subcarrier spacing may be 60 KHz). Alternativelyand/or additionally, the second subcarrier spacing associated with thesecond cell may be equal to half of the first subcarrier spacingassociated with the first cell (e.g., the first subcarrier spacing maybe 30 KHz and/or the second subcarrier spacing may be 15 KHz).Alternatively and/or additionally, the first subcarrier spacing for thefirst cell may be one of 15 KHz, 30 KHz or 60 KHz and/or the secondsubcarrier spacing for the second cell may be one of 30 KHz, 60 KHz or120 KHz. Alternatively and/or additionally, the first subcarrier spacingfor the first cell may be one of 30 KHz, 60 KHz or 120 KHz and/or thesecond subcarrier spacing for the second cell may be one of 15 KHz, 30KHz or 60 KHz.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a second higher layer parameter(e.g., a higher layer parameter Monitoring-periodicity-PDCCH-slot and/ora different higher layer parameter) may be equal to 1. Alternativelyand/or additionally, a combination, N_(symb) ^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(μ−μ)^(INT) , may be equal to 7.

In a second embodiment, a base station may configure a first cell and/ora second cell for a UE. The base station may configure the UE to monitora preemption indication associated with the second cell on (and/orusing) the first cell. For example, the base station may transmitinstructions associated with preemption indication monitoring to the UE.Alternatively and/or additionally, if a number of symbols (e.g., anumber of OFDM symbols) associated with a monitoring periodicity(associated with preemption indication monitoring) is 7 (OFDM) symbols,the base station may set a first higher layer parameter (e.g., a higherlayer parameter INT-TF-unit and/or a different higher layer parameter)to 1 (and/or the base station may configure the first higher layerparameter to be 1). Alternatively and/or additionally, if the number ofsymbols associated with the monitoring periodicity (associated withpreemption indication monitoring) is less than 7 (OFDM) symbols, thebase station may set the first higher layer parameter (e.g., the higherlayer parameter INT-TF-unit and/or a different higher layer parameter)to 1 (and/or the base station may configure the first higher layerparameter to be 1).

Alternatively and/or additionally, if the number of symbols associatedwith the monitoring periodicity (associated with preemption indicationmonitoring) is 7 (OFDM) symbols, the base station may not (and/or doesnot) set the first higher layer parameter (e.g., the higher layerparameter INT-TF-unit and/or a different higher layer parameter) to 0(and/or the base station may not configure the first higher layerparameter to be 0). Alternatively and/or additionally, if the number ofsymbols associated with the monitoring periodicity (associated withpreemption indication monitoring) is less than 7 (OFDM) symbols, thebase station may not (and/or does not) set the first higher layerparameter (e.g., the higher layer parameter INT-TF-unit and/or adifferent higher layer parameter) to 0 (and/or the base station may notconfigure the first higher layer parameter to be 0).

Alternatively and/or additionally, if the number of symbols associatedwith the monitoring periodicity (associated with preemption indicationmonitoring) is greater than 7 (OFDM) symbols, the base station may setthe first higher layer parameter (e.g., the higher layer parameterINT-TF-unit and/or a different higher layer parameter) to 0 and/or 1(and/or the base station may configure the first higher layer parameterto be 0 and/or 1). For example, the number of symbols associated withthe monitoring periodicity (associated with preemption indicationmonitoring) may be 12 and/or 14. Alternatively and/or additionally, thenumber of symbols associated with the monitoring periodicity (associatedwith preemption indication monitoring) may be a multiple of 12.Alternatively and/or additionally, the number of symbols associated withthe monitoring periodicity (associated with preemption indicationmonitoring) may be a multiple of 14.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the number of symbols may be relatedto (and/or configured based upon) the second cell. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the number of symbols may be related to (and/or configuredbased upon) a second subcarrier spacing associated with the second cell.

Alternatively and/or additionally, if the second subcarrier spacingassociated with the second cell is less than a first subcarrier spacingassociated with the first cell and/or if the monitoring periodicity(associated with preemption indication monitoring) is set to 1, the basestation may set the first higher layer parameter (e.g., the higher layerparameter INT-TF-unit and/or a different higher layer parameter) to 1(and/or the base station may configure the first higher layer parameterto be 1). Alternatively and/or additionally, if the second subcarrierspacing associated with the second cell is less than the firstsubcarrier spacing associated with the first cell and/or if themonitoring periodicity (associated with preemption indicationmonitoring) is set to 1, the base station may not (and/or does not) setthe first higher layer parameter (e.g., the higher layer parameterINT-TF-unit and/or a different higher layer parameter) to 0 (and/or thebase station may not configure the first higher layer parameter to be0).

Alternatively and/or additionally, if the monitoring periodicity(associated with preemption indication monitoring) is greater than 1(e.g., if the monitoring periodicity is 2 and/or if the monitoringperiodicity is 4), the base station may set the first higher layerparameter (e.g., the higher layer parameter INT-TF-unit and/or adifferent higher layer parameter) to 0 and/or 1 (and/or the base stationmay configure the first higher layer parameter to be 0 and/or 1).

Alternatively and/or additionally, if the second subcarrier spacingassociated with the second cell is greater than the first subcarrierspacing associated with the first cell, the base station may set thefirst higher layer parameter (e.g., the higher layer parameterINT-TF-unit and/or a different higher layer parameter) to 0 and/or 1(and/or the base station may configure the first higher layer parameterto be 0 and/or 1).

Alternatively and/or additionally, if the second subcarrier spacingassociated with the second cell is the same as the first subcarrierspacing associated with the first cell, the base station may set thefirst higher layer parameter (e.g., the higher layer parameterINT-TF-unit and/or a different higher layer parameter) to 0 and/or 1(and/or the base station may configure the first higher layer parameterto be 0 and/or 1).

In some examples, the UE may receive instructions and/or may beconfigured in accordance with one or more of the above configurations(of the second embodiment). Alternatively and/or additionally, the UEmay not (expect to) receive instructions contradicting one or more ofthe above configurations (of the second embodiment) and/or the UE maynot receive configurations contradicting one or more of the aboveconfigurations (of the second embodiment). In an example, the UE may notexpect to be configured with the first higher layer parameter (e.g., thehigher layer parameter INT-TF-unit and/or a different higher layerparameter) having a value equal to 0 if the number of symbols associatedwith the monitoring periodicity (associated with preemption indicationmonitoring) is 7 (OFDM) symbols. For example, responsive to receivinginstructions and/or configurations contradicting one or more of theabove configurations (of the second embodiment), the UE may perform oneor more operations associated with reconfiguration failure.

In a third embodiment, a base station may configure one or moreparameters such that a number of symbols (e.g., a number of OFDMsymbols) associated with a monitoring periodicity associated withpreemption indication monitoring associated with a cell is more than 7(OFDM) symbols. In some examples, the one or more parameters maycomprise a first parameter, T_(INT), indicative of a value of a higherlayer parameter Monitoring-periodicity-PDCCH-slot (and/or a differenthigher layer parameter). Alternatively and/or additionally, the one ormore parameters may comprise a second parameter, N_(symb) ^(slot),indicative of a number of symbols per slot. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the one or more parameters may comprise a third parameter,μ, indicative of a numerology (and/or a subcarrier spacing) associatedwith a first cell (e.g., the first cell may be the cell and/or adifferent cell). Alternatively and/or additionally, the one or moreparameters may comprise a fourth parameter, μ_(INT), indicative of anumerology (and/or a subcarrier spacing) associated with a second cell(e.g., the second cell may be the cell and/or a different cell).

Alternatively and/or additionally, the base station may configure theone or more parameters such that the number of symbols associated withthe monitoring periodicity (associated with preemption indicationmonitoring) is 12 and/or 14. Alternatively and/or additionally, the basestation may configure the one or more parameters such that the number ofsymbols associated with the monitoring periodicity (associated withpreemption indication monitoring) is a multiple of 12. Alternativelyand/or additionally, the base station may configure the one or moreparameters such that the number of symbols associated with themonitoring periodicity (associated with preemption indicationmonitoring) is a multiple of 14.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the base station may configure theone or more parameters such that the number of symbols associated withthe monitoring periodicity (associated with preemption indicationmonitoring) is different than 7 (OFDM) symbols. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the base station may not (and/or does not) configure theone or more parameters such that the number of symbols associated withthe monitoring periodicity (associated with preemption indicationmonitoring) is 7 (OFDM) symbols. Alternatively and/or additionally, thebase station may not (and/or does not) configure the one or moreparameters such that the number of symbols associated with themonitoring periodicity (associated with preemption indicationmonitoring) is less than 7 (OFDM) symbols. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the base station may not (and/or does not) configure theone or more parameters such that the number of symbols associated withthe monitoring periodicity (associated with preemption indicationmonitoring) is 6 (OFDM) symbols.

In some examples, the UE may receive instructions and/or may beconfigured in accordance with one or more of the above configurations(of the third embodiment). Alternatively and/or additionally, the UE maynot (expect to) receive instructions contradicting one or more of theabove configurations (of the third embodiment) and/or the UE may notreceive configurations contradicting one or more of the aboveconfigurations (of the third embodiment). In an example, the UE may notexpect that the one or more parameters are configured such that thenumber of symbols associated with the monitoring periodicity (associatedwith preemption indication monitoring) is 7 (OFDM) symbols and/or lessthan 7 (OFDM) symbols). For example, responsive to receivinginstructions and/or configurations contradicting one or more of theabove configurations (of the third embodiment), the UE may perform oneor more operations associated with reconfiguration failure.

In a fourth embodiment, a base station may configure one or moreparameters such that a combination, N_(symb) ^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(82 −μ)^(INT) , is equal to 7. In some examples, the one or more parameters maycomprise a first parameter, T_(INT), indicative of a value of a higherlayer parameter Monitoring-periodicity-PDCCH-slot (and/or a differenthigher layer parameter). Alternatively and/or additionally, the one ormore parameters may comprise a second parameter, N_(symb) ^(slot),indicative of a number of symbols per slot. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the one or more parameters may comprise a third parameter,μ, indicative of a numerology (and/or a subcarrier spacing) associatedwith a first cell (e.g., the first cell may be the cell and/or adifferent cell). Alternatively and/or additionally, the one or moreparameters may comprise a fourth parameter, μ_(INT), indicative of anumerology (and/or a subcarrier spacing) associated with a second cell(e.g., the second cell may be the cell and/or a different cell).

Alternatively and/or additionally, the base station may configure theone or more parameters such that the combination, N_(symb)^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(μ−μ) ^(INT) , is equal to 12 and/or 14. Alternativelyand/or additionally, the base station may configure the one or moreparameters such that the combination, N_(symb) ^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(μ−μ)^(INT) , is equal to a multiple of 12. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the base station may configure the one or more parameterssuch that the combination, N_(symb) ^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(82 −μ) ^(INT) ,is to a multiple of 14.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the base station may configure theone or more parameters such that the combination, N_(symb)^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(μ−μ) ^(INT) , is not equal to 7. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the base station may not (and/or does not) configure theone or more parameters such that the combination, N_(symb)^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(μ−μ) ^(INT) , is equal to 7. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the base station may not (and/or does not) configure theone or more parameters such that the combination, N_(symb)^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(μ−μ) ^(INT) , is equal to a value less than 7.Alternatively and/or additionally, the base station may not (and/or doesnot) the one or more parameters such that the combination, N_(symb)^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(μ−μ) ^(INT) , is equal to 6.

In some examples, the UE may receive instructions and/or may beconfigured in accordance with one or more of the above configurations(of the fourth embodiment). Alternatively and/or additionally, the UEmay not (expect to) receive instructions contradicting one or more ofthe above configurations (of the fourth embodiment) and/or the UE maynot receive configurations contradicting one or more of the aboveconfigurations (of the fourth embodiment). In an example, the UE may notexpect that the one or more parameters are configured such that thecombination, N_(symb) ^(slot)·T_(INT)·2^(μ−μ) ^(INT) , is equal to 7and/or is equal to a value less than 7. For example, responsive toreceiving instructions and/or configurations contradicting one or moreof the above configurations (of the fouth embodiment), the UE mayperform one or more operations associated with reconfiguration failure.

In some examples, each of the first embodiment, the second embodiment,the third embodiment and the fourth embodiment, may be implementedindependently and/or separately. Alternatively and/or additionally, acombination of one or more of the first embodiment, the secondembodiment, the third embodiment and/or the fourth embodiment may beimplemented.

It may be appreciated that a UE (as used herein) may be replaced with atransmitter. For example, one or more techniques presented herein thatare described as applying to a UE may (also) be applied to atransmitter.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a UE (as used herein) may be replacedwith a receiver. For example, one or more techniques presented hereinthat are described as applying to a UE may (also) be applied to areceiver.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a UE (as used herein) may be replacedwith a base station. For example, one or more techniques presentedherein that are described as applying to a UE may (also) be applied to abase station.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a UE (as used herein) may be replacedwith a device being scheduled. For example, one or more techniquespresented herein that are described as applying to a UE may (also) beapplied to a device being scheduled.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a base station (as used herein) maybe replaced with a transmitter. For example, one or more techniquespresented herein that are described as applying to a base station may(also) be applied to a transmitter.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a base station (as used herein) maybe replaced with a receiver. For example, one or more techniquespresented herein that are described as applying to a base station may(also) be applied to a receiver.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a base station (as used herein) maybe replaced with a UE. For example, one or more techniques presentedherein that are described as applying to a base station may (also) beapplied to a UE.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a base station (as used herein) maybe replaced with a scheduler. For example, one or more techniquespresented herein that are described as applying to a base station may(also) be applied to a scheduler.

It may be appreciated that techniques presented herein may be applied tovarious types of links (associated with communication, scheduling, etc.)and are not limited to a link between a base station and a UE. Forexamples, one or more techniques presented herein may be applied to abackhaul link and/or a fronthaul link (e.g., among multiple basestations and/or network points), side link and/or UU link (e.g., amongmultiple UEs), etc.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a symbol length of (and/or for) aresource may be related to a cell associated with the resource (e.g.,the symbol length of the resource may be configured based upon the celland/or the symbol length of the resource may be configured by the cell).Alternatively and/or additionally, the symbol length of the resource maybe related to a subcarrier spacing associated with the cell (e.g., thesymbol length of the resource may be configured based upon thesubcarrier spacing associated with the cell).

Alternatively and/or additionally, a symbol length of (and/or for) aresource may correspond to a length of an OFDM symbol associated with asubcarrier spacing associated with a cell related to the resource.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a (physical) data channel (as usedherein) may refer to a (physical) downlink data channel, an (physical)uplink data channel and/or both a (physical) downlink data channel andan (physical) uplink data channel.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart 1500 according to one exemplary embodiment fromthe perspective of a base station. In step 1505, a base station mayconfigure to a UE a size associated with DCI corresponding to one ormore preemption indications, wherein the size is equal to an integerthat is not a multiple of 14 (e.g., the UE may be configured with thesize by the UE).

FIG. 16 is a flow chart 1600 according to one exemplary embodiment fromthe perspective of a base station. In step 1605, a base station mayconfigure to a UE a starting position associated with a fieldcorresponding to one or more preemption indications, wherein thestarting position is equal to an integer that is not a multiple of 14(e.g., the UE may be configured with the starting position by the UE).

FIG. 17 is a flow chart 700 according to one exemplary embodiment fromthe perspective of a UE. In step 1705, a configuration indicative of asize associated with DCI corresponding to one or more preemptionindications may be received from a base station, wherein the size isequal to an integer that is not a multiple of 14.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart 1800 according to one exemplary embodiment fromthe perspective of a UE. In step 1805, a configuration indicative of astarting position associated with a field corresponding to one or morepreemption indications may be received from a base station, wherein thestarting position is equal to an integer that is not a multiple of 14.

In the context of one or more of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 15,the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 16, the embodiment illustrated inFIG. 17 and/or the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 18 and discussedabove, the integer may be equal to a value between 0 and a maximumvalue.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the integer (corresponding to thesize) may be equal to a value between 0 and a maximum size value.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the integer (corresponding to thestarting position) may be equal to a value between 0 and a maximumstarting position value.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the integer may be a multiple of 7(e.g., 7, 14, 21, etc.).

Alternatively and/or additionally, the base station may transmit a groupcommon PDCCH corresponding to (and/or comprising) a preemptionindication to the UE. One or more first bits (of the group common PDCCH)may be indicative of one or more preempted resources (and/or thepreemption indication). Alternatively and/or additionally, the one ormore first bits may be used to indicate the one or more preemptedresources to the UE. Alternatively and/or additionally, the one or morefirst bits may comprise a first number Y of bits. The first number Y maybe less than 14 (e.g., the one or more bits may comprise less than 14bits). Alternatively and/or additionally, the first number Y may beequal to 7 (e.g., the one or more bits may comprise 7 bits).Alternatively and/or additionally, the first number Y may be equal to 6(e.g., the one or more bits may comprise 6 bits).

Alternatively and/or additionally, the starting position may correspondto a second number X. For example, the second number X may correspond toa positional value. Alternatively and/or additionally, an initial bit ofthe one or more first bits may have an initial bit position (e.g., thestarting position) equal to the second number X. Alternatively and/oradditionally, one or more (consecutive and/or not consecutive) bitpositions, comprising the initial bit position (e.g., the startingposition), may be used to carry the one or more first bits and/or thepreemption indication (to the UE). The one or more bit positions maycorrespond to (consecutive and/or not consecutive) positional values X,X+1, . . . , X+Y−1.

Alternatively and/or additionally, one or more second bits may be usedto indicate one or more second preempted resources (to the UE). Forexample, the one or more second bits may be indicative of the one ormore second preempted resources and/or a second preemption indication.In some examples, a second initial bit of the one or more second bitsmay have a second initial bit position equal to a third number X+Y.Alternatively and/or additionally, one or more second bit positions,comprising the second initial bit position, may be used to carry the oneor more second bits and/or the second preemption indication (to the UE).The one or more second bit positions may correspond to (consecutiveand/or not consecutive) positional values X+Y, X+Y+1, . . . , X+13.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the UE may determine whether one ormore resources (scheduled for the UE) are preempted based upon the oneor more first bits (e.g., one or more preempted resources may beidentified based upon the one or more first bits). Alternatively and/oradditionally, the UE may not determine whether one or more resources(scheduled for the UE) are preempted based upon the one or more secondbits (e.g., one or more preempted resources may not be identified basedupon the one or more second bits).

Alternatively and/or additionally, the UE may retrieve the one or morebits (and/or one or more other bits wherein a number of bits of the oneor more other bits is equal to the first number Y and/or the firstnumber Y is less than 14) from the DCI corresponding to the one or morepreemption indications. Alternatively and/or additionally, the UE maystore one or more zero-bits (e.g., bits equal to 0) in one or more thirdbit positions following the one or more bit positions (and/or may addthe one or more zero-bits to the one or more third bit positionsfollowing the one or more bit positions), such that a field fordetermining one or more pre-empted resources (and/or a total bit lengthof a combination of the one or more bits and the one or more zero-bits)is associated with 14 bits. Alternatively and/or additionally, a numberof bits of the one or more zero-bits may be equal to 14−Y.

In some examples, the second preemption indication may be (configured)for the UE (and/or may be received and/or analyzed by the UE).Alternatively and/or additionally, the second preemption indication maybe (configured) for a second UE (and/or may be received and/or analyzedby the second UE).

In some examples, a plurality of preemption indications may betransmitted to the UE. For example, each preemption indication may betransmitted to the UE via a set of bits of a plurality of sets of bits.For example, each set of bits of the plurality of sets of bits maycomprise the first number Y of bits (e.g., a number of bits of each setof bits of the plurality of sets of bits may be equal to the firstnumber Y). Each set of bits of the plurality of sets of bits may be usedto indicate a preemption indication to the UE.

Alternatively and/or additionally, one or more sets of bits (whereineach set of bits of the one or more sets of bits comprises the firstnumber Y of bits) may be used to indicate one or more preemptionindications to the UE when (and/or responsive to a determination that) anumber of symbols within a preemption indication monitoring periodicityis less than 14 symbols. Alternatively and/or additionally, one or moresets of bits (wherein each set of bits of the one or more sets of bitscomprises the first number Y of bits) may be used to indicate one ormore preemption indications to the UE when (and/or responsive to adetermination that) a number of symbols within a preemption indicationmonitoring periodicity is less than 12 symbols. Alternatively and/oradditionally, one or more sets of bits (wherein each set of bits of theone or more sets of bits comprises the first number Y of bits) may beused to indicate one or more preemption indications to the UE when(and/or responsive to a determination that) a number of symbols within apreemption indication monitoring periodicity is 7 symbols.

Alternatively and/or additionally, a difference between the startingposition and the size may be less than 14. Alternatively and/oradditionally, a difference between the starting position and the sizemay be 7.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart 1900 according to one exemplary embodiment fromthe perspective of a base station. In step 1905, a UE may be configuredwith a size associated with DCI corresponding to one or more preemptionindications. The size may be equal to a first value that is not amultiple of a defined value. In step 1910, the UE may be configured witha starting position of a field associated with the DCI (e.g., the fieldmay be within the DCI and/or the field may be associated with the one ormore preemption indications). The starting position is equal to a secondvalue that is a multiple of the defined value. In step 1915, a first DCIcomprising a first preemption indication may be transmitted to the UEbased upon (and/or in accordance with) the size and/or the startingposition.

Referring back to FIGS. 3 and 4, in one exemplary embodiment of a basestation, the device 300 includes a program code 312 stored in the memory310. The CPU 308 may execute program code 312 (i), to configure a UEwith a size associated with DCI corresponding to one or more preemptionindications, wherein the size is equal to a first value that is not amultiple of a defined value (ii) to configure the UE with a startingposition of a field associated with the DCI, wherein the startingposition is equal to a second value that is a multiple of the definedvalue, and (iii) to transmit, based upon (and/or in accordance with) thesize and/or the starting position, a first DCI comprising a firstpreemption indication to the UE. Furthermore, the CPU 308 can executethe program code 312 to perform some and/or all of the above-describedactions and steps and/or others described herein.

In the context of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 19 and discussedabove, the UE may be configured with the size associated with the DCI bygenerating a first configuration based upon the size and/or bytransmitting the first configuration to the UE. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the starting position must be equal to the second valuethat is a multiple of the defined value. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the size may correspond to a dci-PayloadSize parameter ina DownlinkPreemption information element.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the UE may be configured with thestarting position of the field associated with the DCI by generating asecond configuration based upon the starting position and/or bytransmitting the second configuration to the UE. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the starting position may correspond to a positionInDCIparameter in a DownlinkPreemption information element.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the first DCI may be associated withDCI format 2_1. Alternatively and/or additionally, the first value ofthe size may be equal to an integer between 0 and a maximum size value.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the defined value may be equal to 14.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart 2000 according to one exemplary embodiment fromthe perspective of a UE. In step 2005, a first configuration indicativeof a size associated with DCI corresponding to one or more preemptionindications may be received from a base station. The size may be equalto a first value that is not a multiple of a defined value. In step2010, a second configuration indicative of a starting position of afield associated with the DCI may be received from the base station(e.g., the field may be within the DCI and/or the field may beassociated with the one or more preemption indications). The startingposition may be equal to a second value that is a multiple of thedefined value. In step 2015, a first DCI comprising a first preemptionindication may be received from the base station based upon (and/or inaccordance with) the first configuration and/or the secondconfiguration.

Referring back to FIGS. 3 and 4, in one exemplary embodiment of a UE,the device 300 includes a program code 312 stored in the memory 310. TheCPU 308 may execute program code 312 (i), to receive, from a basestation, a first configuration indicative of a size associated with DCIcorresponding to one or more preemption indications, wherein the size isequal to a first value that is not a multiple of a defined value (ii) toreceive, from the base station, a second configuration indicative of astarting position of a field associated with the DCI, wherein thestarting position is equal to a second value that is a multiple of thedefined value, and (iii) to receive, based upon (and/or in accordancewith and/or complying with) the first configuration and the secondconfiguration, a first DCI comprising a first preemption indication fromthe base station. Furthermore, the CPU 308 can execute the program code312 to perform some and/or all of the above-described actions and stepsand/or others described herein.

In the context of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 20 and discussedabove, the UE may not perform one or more operations associated withreconfiguration failure responsive to receiving the first configuration(e.g., the one or more operations may comprise one or more ofconsidering reconfiguration failure, performing a connectionre-establishment procedure, etc.). Alternatively and/or additionally,the UE may not perform the one or more operations associated withreconfiguration failure responsive to receiving the secondconfiguration.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the UE may not comply with the secondconfiguration if (and/or responsive to determining that) the secondvalue of the starting position is not a multiple of the defined value.Alternatively and/or additionally, the UE may perform the one or moreoperations associated with reconfiguration failure if (and/or responsiveto determining that) the second value of the starting position is not amultiple of the defined value.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the UE receives, from the basestation, a third configuration indicative of the starting position ofthe field associated with the DCI, wherein the starting position isequal to a third value that is not a multiple of the defined value. TheUE does not receive, based upon (and/or in accordance with and/orcomplying with) the third configuration, a second DCI comprising asecond preemption indication from the base station. The UE performs oneor more operations associated with reconfiguration failure responsive toreceiving the third configuration.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the size may correspond to adci-PayloadSize parameter in a DownlinkPreemption information element.Alternatively and/or additionally, the starting position may correspondto a positionInDCI parameter in a DownlinkPreemption informationelement.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the first DCI may be associated withDCI format 2_1. Alternatively and/or additionally, the first value ofthe size may be equal to an integer between 0 and a maximum size value.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the defined value may be equal to 14.

It may be appreciated that applying one or more of the techniquespresented herein may result in one or more benefits including, but notlimited to, an increase in efficiency for determining a size and/or astarting position associated with a preemption indication.

A communication device (e.g., a UE, a base station, etc.) may beprovided, wherein the communication device may comprise a controlcircuit, a processor installed in the control circuit and/or a memoryinstalled in the control circuit and coupled to the processor. Theprocessor may be configured to execute a program code stored in thememory to perform method steps illustrated in FIG. 15, FIG. 16, FIG. 17,FIG. 18, FIG. 19 and/or FIG. 20. Furthermore, the processor may executethe program code to perform some and/or all of the above-describedactions and steps and/or others described herein.

Various aspects of the disclosure have been described above. It shouldbe apparent that the teachings herein may be embodied in a wide varietyof forms and that any specific structure, function, or both beingdisclosed herein is merely representative. Based on the teachings hereinone skilled in the art should appreciate that an aspect disclosed hereinmay be implemented independently of any other aspects and that two ormore of these aspects may be combined in various ways. For example, anapparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using anynumber of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, such an apparatusmay be implemented or such a method may be practiced using otherstructure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition toor other than one or more of the aspects set forth herein. As an exampleof some of the above concepts, in some aspects concurrent channels maybe established based on pulse repetition frequencies. In some aspectsconcurrent channels may be established based on pulse position oroffsets. In some aspects concurrent channels may be established based ontime hopping sequences. In some aspects concurrent channels may beestablished based on pulse repetition frequencies, pulse positions oroffsets, and time hopping sequences.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signalsmay be represented using any of a variety of different technologies andtechniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information,signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout theabove description may be represented by voltages, currents,electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields orparticles, or any combination thereof.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrativelogical blocks, modules, processors, means, circuits, and algorithmsteps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may beimplemented as electronic hardware (e.g., a digital implementation, ananalog implementation, or a combination of the two, which may bedesigned using source coding or some other technique), various forms ofprogram or design code incorporating instructions (which may be referredto herein, for convenience, as “software” or a “software module”), orcombinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability ofhardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules,circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms oftheir functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented ashardware or software depends upon the particular application and designconstraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans mayimplement the described functionality in varying ways for eachparticular application, but such implementation decisions should not beinterpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

In addition, the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, andcircuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein maybe implemented within or performed by an integrated circuit (“IC”), anaccess terminal, or an access point. The IC may comprise a generalpurpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array(FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistorlogic, discrete hardware components, electrical components, opticalcomponents, mechanical components, or any combination thereof designedto perform the functions described herein, and may execute codes orinstructions that reside within the IC, outside of the IC, or both. Ageneral purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

It is understood that any specific order or hierarchy of steps in anydisclosed process is an example of a sample approach. Based upon designpreferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy ofsteps in the processes may be rearranged while remaining within thescope of the present disclosure. The accompanying method claims presentelements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not meant to belimited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with theaspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in asoftware module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two.A software module (e.g., including executable instructions and relateddata) and other data may reside in a data memory such as RAM memory,flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a harddisk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of computer-readablestorage medium known in the art. A sample storage medium may be coupledto a machine such as, for example, a computer/processor (which may bereferred to herein, for convenience, as a “processor”) such theprocessor can read information (e.g., code) from and write informationto the storage medium. A sample storage medium may be integral to theprocessor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC.The ASIC may reside in user equipment. In the alternative, the processorand the storage medium may reside as discrete components in userequipment. Moreover, in some aspects any suitable computer-programproduct may comprise a computer-readable medium comprising codesrelating to one or more of the aspects of the disclosure. In someaspects a computer program product may comprise packaging materials.

While the disclosed subject matter has been described in connection withvarious aspects, it will be understood that the disclosed subject matteris capable of further modifications. This application is intended tocover any variations, uses or adaptation of the disclosed subject matterfollowing, in general, the principles of the disclosed subject matter,and including such departures from the present disclosure as come withinthe known and customary practice within the art to which the disclosedsubject matter pertains.

1. A method comprising: transmitting, based upon (i) a size of downlinkcontrol information (DCI) that is equal to a first value that is not amultiple of a defined value and (ii) a starting position of a field inthe DCI that is equal to a second value that is a multiple of thedefined value, a first DCI comprising a first preemption indication to aUser Equipment (UE).
 2. The method of claim 1, comprising: generating aconfiguration based upon the size; and transmitting the configuration tothe UE.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the size corresponds to a dciPayloadSize parameter in a DownlinkPreemption information element. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the configuring the UE with the startingposition of the field in the DCI comprises: generating a configurationbased upon the starting position; and transmitting the configuration tothe UE.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the starting positioncorresponds to a positionInDCI parameter in a DownlinkPreemptioninformation element.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first DCI isassociated with DCI format 2_1.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein atleast one of the size is in a unit of bit or the starting positioncorresponds to a bit position.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein thesize being equal to the first value that is not be a multiple of thedefined value and the starting position being equal to the second valuethat is a multiple of the defined value is associated with compliancewith at least one of one or more configurations or one or morestandards.
 9. A method comprising: receiving, based upon (i) a size ofdownlink control information (DCI) that is equal to a first value thatis not a multiple of a defined value and (ii) a starting position of afield in the DCI that is equal to a second value that is a multiple ofthe defined value, a first DCI comprising a first preemption indicationfrom a base station.
 10. The method of claim 9, comprising: responsiveto receiving a configuration indicative of the size of the DCI, notperforming one or more operations associated with reconfigurationfailure.
 11. The method of claim 9, comprising: responsive to receivinga configuration indicative of the starting position of the field in theDCI, not performing one or more operations associated withreconfiguration failure.
 12. The method of claim 9, comprising:receiving, from the base station, a configuration indicative of thestarting position of the field in the DCI, wherein the starting positionis equal to a third value that is not a multiple of the defined value;and not receiving, based upon the configuration, a second DCI comprisinga second preemption indication from the base station.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, comprising: responsive to receiving the configuration,performing one or more operations associated with reconfigurationfailure.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein the first DCI is associatedwith DCI format 2_1.
 15. The method of claim 9, wherein the first valueof the size is equal to an integer between 0 and a maximum size value.16. The method of claim 9, wherein the defined value is equal to
 14. 17.A communication device, comprising: a processor; and memory comprisingprocessor-executable instructions that when executed by the processorcause performance of operations, the operations comprising: receiving,based upon (i) a size of downlink control information (DCI) that isequal to a first value that is not a multiple of a defined value and(ii) a starting position of a field in the DCI that is equal to a secondvalue that is a multiple of the defined value, a first DCI comprising afirst preemption indication from a base station.
 18. The communicationdevice of claim 17, further comprising: receiving, from the basestation, a configuration indicative of the starting position of thefield in the DCI, wherein the starting position is equal to a thirdvalue that is not a multiple of the defined value; and not receiving,based upon the configuration, a second DCI comprising a secondpreemption indication from the base station.
 19. The communicationdevice of claim 18, further comprising: responsive to receiving theconfiguration, performing one or more operations associated withreconfiguration failure.
 20. The communication device of claim 17,wherein the defined value is equal to 14.